Half a Mind
by dannyghost
Summary: After a wrong turn sends the Fenton family to Gravity Falls, Oregon instead of California for summer vacation, Danny finds himself getting suspicious of his new surroundings, and he's determined to find out what, with the help of the Pines twins. Meanwhile, Dipper begins to get paranoid that there is something off about Danny Fenton, and to top it off, Bill has other plans.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! So, this fanfiction was conceived from two of my favourite shows that I will forever love, Danny Phantom and Gravity Falls. I've been working on this story with my sis since July, when we felt the need to write a crossover. So this happened. Please please please, leave constructive criticism or if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to clear that up.**

 **Full Summary: After a wrong turn sends the Fenton family to Gravity Falls, Oregon instead of sunny California for summer vacation, Danny finds himself getting more and more paranoid that something is definitely wrong within the strange town, and he's determined to find out what, with the help of the newly acquainted Pines twins. Meanwhile, Dipper begins to suspect that there is something off about Danny Fenton and that he isn't so normal as he comes across. To top it off the cake on Danny's plate, Bill has other plans, starting with the discovery of a half-human, half-ghost, and an opportunity that spells out trouble for everyone.**

 **Disclaimer: All rights go to creators Butch Hartman and Alex Hirsch for Danny Phantom and Gravity Falls respectively.**

* * *

Summer was tough when you had to switch your lifestyle completely. Danny had gone from a no-sleep, anxiety ridden C student to a moody teen that was only ever awake to use the bathroom, eat, or fight the occasional annoyance (a ghost). For sure, a family road trip wasn't a surprise to him or his sister, who had braved through the wilderness and ghost sabotages simultaneously before.

A supposed family road trip to the beaches in California had not been as simple as originally planned. He had Jazz to thank for this spectacular idea; after suggesting to their mom that the family needed to get away from their obsession with ghosts. And of course, their mom was first to jump aboard the idea and suggested the beaches, and then soon after that (literally minutes after the entire ordeal), their dad was hauling the suitcases out into the RV. Danny, on the other hand, was less than ecstatic to leave Amity Park unattended.

Sam and Tucker insisted that they would be fine handling the ghosts without Danny, but he took a lot of convincing from Tucker that everything would be fine and physical threats from Sam about her combat boot to his head if he didn't stop worrying. They had promised that if anything ghost-related were to happen, they'd take care of it, and if anything Vlad-related were to happen, they'd call him immediately. ' _No fruitloops on my watch, pal,'_ Tucker had promised.

Still, being gone for three weeks out of state was nerve wracking for Danny. The constant gut-wrenching feeling wouldn't leave him ever since Jack announced during the Fenton family meeting that they were going on the road trip in the first place.

What could go wrong with beaches? Sure, a trip to California would take hours, many hours, probably about a day or more, but Danny shouldn't be paranoid again. He remembered what happened during the last Fenton family road trip vacation and shuddered before crawling into the large silver and green vehicle. He would never let his family think he was crazy again. Even if he wasn't actually crazy. It wasn't his fault only kids and immature adults could see Youngblood!

 _Wait, why couldn't dad have seen him? It's not like he's a responsible adult._ Danny thought, and crossed his arms, looking over at his dad in the rearview mirror. Jack Fenton was viciously sipping Fenton juice out of his Fenton hat as he turned on the ignition to the car.

Danny sighed to himself and buckled his seatbelt. "Am I going to regret agreeing to going on this?" he asked aloud to no one in particular.

"Probably," Jazz answered from next to him. She had been in the GAV first, and probably was the most over packed with more vacation essentials than the four of them combined. Her hands were occupied with a book that had a title that was too long to read or care for.

Danny let out an exasperated sigh. "Look, if this trip turns out to be anything like the _last_ family road trip we had, just know that I'm blaming you." he stated, crossing his arms once more and giving Jazz a sour look.

"Danny, it's California!" Jazz exclaimed, resting her book onto her lap. "Which is pretty _far_ from Amity Park by the way, so stop worrying. There's nothing ghostly about California," she began, the last sentence closer to a hissed whisper so their parents didn't hear it. "And by any chance that there is, I'm sure that we're more than prepared. Really." she continued, gesturing to the Fenton portable weapons vault installed into the GAV.

"Doesn't matter," Danny replied, looking over at Jazz with a smirk. "I'll still blame you." Jazz glared at him in defeat before returning back to her book which Danny had assumed was some kind of dictionary at this point.

This entire trip would take at least a full day of driving, and that was including the unfortunate too fast for comfort speed that Jack drove at. By the time just a little over half an hour passed, they were outside of town already and Danny was looking at the _'You are now leaving Amity Park!_ ' sign before they quickly passed by it. In the time that had passed so far, he was starting to get a little sick from Maddie's insistence on playing road trip games.

"I spy… uh, something that's… green." Jack said cautiously, squinting at the road ahead of him. Jazz lowered her book as if to speak, but instead only rolled her eyes. Danny put his head back against the headrest, and stared at the ceiling of the RV.

"Trees. _Again._ " he groaned.

"Correcto, Danny-boy! Your turn!" He beamed, smiling at Maddie, who was flipping through the pages of a handheld United States map booklet. It contained maps for every region and state of the country, each map a different page and provided every boring fact about each area. She looked up from the booklet and gave a lovingly smile back at Jack.

"Mom, are we going to be doing this the entire trip there? I'm hungry." Danny complained, looking for any reason to end the torturous road game. Although he knew that as long as he participated in answering, it would continue. He was beginning to despise the person who invented the game _I-Spy._

Maddie turned around in her seat and tilted her head to glance back at Danny. "Well, we can play another game if you want, sweetie–"

"No!" he yelped, and then his eyes widened almost comically. Danny regained his composure, swallowing. "I, I, mean, no, uh… nevermind." he finished lamely.

"Fenton jerky?" Maddie offered.

"Maybe later," Danny answered, grimacing as he watched his dad munch furiously on his share of Fenton jerky. Maybe Danny wasn't as hungry as he thought.

Only minutes had gone by, but it had felt more like hours. Most of it was ridden with silence, but eventually the silence became deafening.

He reached into his purple backpack that had been resting by his shoes for something to do. Deciding on a pencil and notebook, he thought he could pass the time by doodling. It wouldn't come out the best, considering with his dad's driving, it'd definitely come out shaky, but he had happily settled on sketching out some of his notorious ghostly enemies.

Skulker… Johnny 13… Spectra… Technus… Box Ghost… Desiree… Walker… Ember…

"Really, Danny?" Jazz asked, peering over at his latest drawing to which Danny yelped at in alarm. He almost jumped out his seat in surprise if it wasn't for his seatbelt restraining him.

"I mean, I knew you didn't like Vlad Plasmius, but to draw him getting brutally decapitated in a…" she trailed off, staring at the drawing. "Wow...Okay, Danny, that's just weird. This is some fruitloop level weirdness. I don't even think _he_ dislikes you that much."

Danny begrudgingly flipped to a fresh page in his notebook. "Care to join the ranks?" he offered.

"I'll pass." Jazz frowned, and went back to reading her book.

She had gone through her second psychology book by the time they reached the Illinois border, and Danny had gone through three different playlists of music from his MP3 player, after drawing everything he could think of that was worthwhile drawing. The sketchbook was now left on the seat between him and Jazz, untouched for the past hour.

After the highway turned to a straighter path it became easier to fall unconscious to the lull of the engine, and soon enough the others fell asleep. Coincidentally, everyone except Jack.

* * *

Jazz had woken from her sleep without stirring her other sleeping family members. Rubbing her eyes in response to the brooding daylight, she looked down to her analog watch to read half past seven. It was early in the morning so surely they had been out on the road for almost a day. At least.

She looked out the window and was confused to be seeing pine trees instead of palm trees. How long had she been sleeping for?

"Um, dad? Where are we? Are you sure you aren't heading north?"

Jack nearly jumped at the sound of her voice before looking around and piecing together the same unspoken conclusion as Jazz. They had taken a wrong turn a long time ago.

"Bogus! Jazz, I, uh, didn't know you were awake!" Jack exclaimed, and looked back at his daughter, who had her arms crossed, silently waiting for an explanation.

"I really should'a let Maddie take the wheel earlier when she offered to…" He said slowly and shrugged his shoulders, his smile fading to a look of worry as he began to get an idea of what Jazz would say next.

"Dad… you didn't take a wrong turn… Did you?" Jazz accused, biting down on her lip in panic. Even she already knew the answer to her own question. The RV was nowhere near heading in the direction to California now. Looking at the various signs on the road they passed by, they had just passed the border of Idaho and were heading northwest. They've been heading in the direction of north for the past few hours instead of south.

Jack laughed nervously, eyes slowly widening. "Surprise! We're lost!"

Jazz let out a deep sigh, and frowned at her father. "Dad! Are you serious? Why didn't you wake any of us up earlier?!" she asked, looking frantically at the road in front of them.

"Well to be honest, I didn't actually notice that I had made a wrong turn since about a couple of minutes ago… When you pointed it out."

"Okay, fine," Jazz exhaled. "Why don't we just use the Fenton GPS to figure out where we are then?" she suggested.

"Great thinking Jazzypants!" Jack exclaimed, pressing a few buttons on the vehicle's console and a black and green screen slowly powered on. There was a map on the small screen, and a red dot on the map signifying where the GAV exactly was.

"...Oregon?" Jazz asked, utterly disappointed. What was there that was even remotely interesting in the state of Oregon, other than pine trees?

Jack squinted at the small screen installed into the car. "Hey, on the plus side, Oregon is only one state away from California! ... Right?"

"Camping essentials is the one thing I didn't pack for!"

"Well, we can always just keep driving and pretend this never happened! Although that would probably take another full day of driving..."

Jazz crossed her arms, and frowned, thinking. "Let's stop at the next town then. Maybe stay a few days and rest up before heading south."

"Sounds like a plan! Wake your Mom and Danny, will ya? Let them know that we have a slight change in plans!" He said, eyeing the GPS with a newly found excitement. He knew to keep a positive attitude for the rest of the family, despite being slightly worried anxious about leading them into danger. Especially when he had no idea what he was doing. Good thing Jazz was smart.

She rolled her eyes and went to the back of the RV to reach her snoring brother. "Danny, wake up!" she hissed, and shook his shoulders awake.

He stirred quickly, and rolled over in his interrupted sleep before startling awake and screaming: "What!? What is it?! Is it ghosts? Where?!"

"No, Danny. Jeez, you're starting to sound like dad." Jazz regained her posture and promptly looked back over her shoulder to the front of the RV where Jack was driving. "...And because of him, we're not heading to California anymore."

Danny's brows furrowed in confusion. "...What?"

His sudden screaming woke up Maddie. "What is it?" she asked tiredly, rubbing her eyes. Danny sat upright, with a yawn. "What time is it?"

Jazz sighed, and glanced to the roof of the RV. "It's morning. Dad took a wrong turn, didn't notice for hours, went north instead of south, and now we're in Oregon."

Danny groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Figures."

"Oh, Jack…" Maddie muttered with a frown.

"Let me guess, now we're gonna have to stay in some weird place in Oregon before we can actually go to California like we were _supposed_ to?" Danny mused.

Jazz snapped her gaze towards Danny. "Yeah… how'd you guess?" she asked.

"Because I've been running worst case scenarios in my mind the entire trip so far." Danny responded, and promptly dived back into his pillow face first. _Great, just my luck._

* * *

 **They enter Gravity Falls in the next chapter, if you're wondering. Please leave reviews! I'd gladly appreciate it! :)**

 **I will be updating regularly, as I already have several pre-written chapters laid out. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! I'm back with chapter 2! This chapter is mainly Danny and Jazz interacting, but next chapter we get to meet the whole GF gang woo. Also, someone asked when does this story take place in the Gravity Falls timeline, and so I'd like to clarify. This story takes place before the episode Not What He Seems from season 2. So basically, everything before Ford. And as for the Danny Phantom timeline, this happens after Reality Trip in season 2, during Danny's summer vacation. Heh. Thanks for reviewing!**

 **Alright, here you go. All rights to Butch Hartman and Alex Hirsch, respectively.**

* * *

Chapter 2

"Remind me again, where are we even headed now?" Danny asked, looking out the window of the RV. It was now late morning, and the entire family was now fully awake and fully aware of Jack's unfortunate sense of direction. By now, they were somewhere in northwestern Oregon.

"Hm… Probably some place in the middle of absolutely nowhere that none of us have even heard of?" Jazz answered, resting her chin on her hand.

Danny passed her a sideways glance. "Wow, you're helpful."

"Glad to be of service." she replied with an eyeroll, and glanced towards her window side.

Danny looked to his own window, and yelped in surprise when he saw a small gnome scatter out of the trees. He thought it was a figment of his imagination, and rubbed his eyes, but to add to his now confirmed paranoia, it was still there. He could have sworn he saw it mouth the word _'SHMEBULOCK'_ before running back into the forest.

Gnome ghost?

"Hey kids, it looks like we're pulling up near a town!" Maddie beamed, gesturing at the passing road signs. "But… for some reason…" she trailed off, pausing to take a look at her map-filled booklet. It was turned to a page of the state of Oregon, and Maddie frowned at it, dropping her smile. "There doesn't seem to be any towns in this whole area according to this map."

"Wait, what?" Danny asked, alarmed.

"Doesn't show on the GPS either!" Jack added, but despite the family's confusion, they were in fact nearing a town amidst the greenery of seemingly endless pine trees. This was weird, weird enough to residents of Amity Park, which definitely said something.

"So… where exactly _are_ we?" Jazz asked, meeting eyes with Danny, who shared the same concerned expression. Danny's returning feeling of paranoia was beginning to rest itself deep down in his stomach, causing it to do flips and turns.

The next passing roadsign answered the family's questions as soon as seen. The tall, wooden elevated billboard loomed over the GAV with a simple, innocent phrase with thick block letters that spelled out: _Welcome to Gravity Falls, Oregon!_

The sign itself looked like it had been broken multiple times and repaired again, causing the wooden exterior to appear shabby and worn out to the brink of breaking again. In simpler terms, it looked like it had been broken through entirely with a small car. Or a golf cart.

"Gravity Falls? What kind of a name for a town is that?" Danny mumbled.

Maddie breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. Well, I guess we can stay in this town for a few days, then!" she said cheerfully, turning around to face Danny and Jazz.

"Oh. Great." Danny said dryly, slouching in his seat.

"Gravity Falls… Why have I never heard of that place before?" Jazz thought aloud.

"So you're finally admitting that you _don't_ know everything?" Danny jumped in, sitting upright out of his slouch. His smug expression turned to a growing smirk. Jazz glowered at him in response.

"Must be a pretty small town, then, sweetie," Maddie supplied, ignoring Danny's comment.

"Or it could be some sort of ghostly scheme designed to trick us." Jack said darkly, narrowing his eyes at the road in front of him.

"Or not." Jazz said, and raised an eyebrow. She looked as if she was about to say something else, but she kept her mouth shut before she said something she shouldn't.

"I hope not." Danny muttered.

"This can be fun! Family bonding with you guys!" Maddie tried, but neither Danny or Jazz smiled in return.

"...Yeah!" Jazz agreed, and when Danny didn't say anything, delivered a swift elbow to his gut. He made a small noise and then mumbled a 'yeah' quickly.

Minutes passed as the GAV drove further into Gravity Falls, both Jazz and Danny taking in the sights. They drove past a rusty water tower on fragile stilts and a beautifully serene lake leading to a sparkling waterfall deeper into the greenery. It seemed that the nature parts of this town were better appearing than the man made things.

A peaceful silence grew as the family observed the town from the windows, the only noise being the thick whir of the engine. It grew increasingly louder as Jack suddenly floored on the gas pedal with mad intent. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly and everyone lurched backwards with the sudden speed of the vehicle.

"Is he driving faster and worse than usual or is it just me?" Jazz asked as she glanced at Danny, who gritted his teeth and nodded quickly.

"It's not just you," he responded.

"Uhm, dad—"

"GHOST!" Jack yelled, much to the shock of his children and excitement of his wife.

"Where?!" Maddie asked, dropping her map booklet, looking around in every possible direction through her peripheral view. Jazz opened her mouth in disbelief and stared bug-eyed at Danny. He mirrored her expression, and they both looked at the windshield to see what Jack had thought was a ghost.

From where he was sitting in the back of the RV, Danny couldn't see the windshield of the car, so he had to assume what was there, and what wasn't there. _My ghost sense hasn't gone off,_ Danny thought, so he came to the conclusion that whatever Jack thought was a ghost is _not_ a ghost. Jazz beat him to it, and nearly jumped out of her seat to alert their dad. Danny finally moved out of his seat far enough so he could see what was in front of them. It wasn't a ghost.

Jazz waved her arms around in the air. "Dad, wait, that's not—"

"Watch out for that totem pole!" Danny yelled, and Jack swerved off the road harshly, making the car spin out of control, heading towards the very same totem pole in the large clearing. Everyone screamed as the vehicle rammed straight for the pole, knocking it right over.

 _THUD._

"Hey look, a gift shop!"

* * *

The motel they had pulled up to was less than welcoming. Then again, neither were the faces of the townspeople after Jack had crashed them into the totem pole. A few blank and concerned stares later, they had settled into their new rooms. The 'kids' room wasn't very spacious, but they knew that in contrast to staying a few days in the GAV, this was pretty luxurious.

"Man, this room is small. This entire motel might as well be a log cabin," Danny commented as he set his suitcase on the floor. He looked around the room and deflated. So much for the nice hotel they were supposed to stay at in Santa Monica. Instead, they were stuck here. It wasn't ugly, just disappointing.

"Yeah, no kidding." Jazz agreed.

Danny pulled out his phone for the first time in a day and sighed in relief when he found that although there looked to be only one cell tower in the town, he had service.

"Well, at least one thing about this whole situation isn't entirely bad." Danny said aloud, and walked over to where Jazz was standing. "They have cell service here."

She dropped her bags on the ground, making a soft _thud._ "I know, I checked it when we first pulled up at this dingy motel. Unfortunately, they don't have internet here. Well, free internet, anyway."

His shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Darnit. I guess I won't be video chatting with Sam and Tucker anytime soon."

"Well, just be thankful for the cell service. Which bed do you want?" Jazz asked, eyeing her little brother as she set her books down on the desk.

Danny shoved his phone back in his pocket and frowned. He surveyed both the beds before making a running leap and proceeded to jump stomach-first on the bed by the window, making a small _oompf_ noise as he landed. He didn't move from his landing position, instead choosing to be sprawled out on top of the bed. "I think I want this one," he mumbled lazily, voice muffled through the pillow.

"Fine with me," Jazz said, and opened her suitcase to begin unpacking. There became a heavy yet comfortable silence between the two as Danny lay on the bed thinking and Jazz going through her bags. The only sounds that were heard in the room were the occasional noise of Jazz's items shuffling in her bag as she moved them around.

Danny had wanted the bed closest to the window so he could see the stars at night. He was looking forward to being able to enjoy them without the 'big city' light pollution. Although that was the main reason, he tried his hardest to push the thought of having to use the window as an escape hatch during this trip if something involved with ghosts were to occur. Soon enough, it came to the point where he could no longer push away the thoughts of every possible thing that could go wrong.

"Jazz?" he asked, not bothering to move from his paralysed position.

"Yes, little brother?"

Danny lifted his head from its position and turned around, lying on his back. "On a scale of one to ten, how much do you think something ghost-related is going to happen on this trip?" Jazz sighed, and stopped rifling through her things.

"Danny, nothing ghostly is going to happen. Ghosts are an Amity Park thing. If you haven't noticed, we're thousands of miles away from Illinois. I think you're just getting paranoid about ghosts here. Dad made a wrong turn and sure, we ended up in this weird town, and sure we crashed in a pole because dad _thought_ it was a ghost, but that doesn't equal to a ghost problem! This isn't a working vacation, and as far as I'm concerned, there aren't any ghosts in Gravity Falls!" Jazz exclaimed, and sat down on the edge of her bed.

Danny sat upright immediately. "Okay, but I _swear_ on the way here I saw a gnome just walk out of the forest and talk, Jazz. _Walk._ Gnomes aren't supposed to walk. Or talk. Or move! They should be inanimate, in a garden! Tell me it's not the work of some kind of weird forest gnome ghost!"

Jazz held a hand up to her own forehead. "I think your mind may be playing tricks on you at this point, Danny. It must be because you're so used to the presence of ghosts around, or rather, ghosts appearing, and something negative having to happen so often that you've become use to it, so now being in a different environment without that constant paranoia and danger, your mind is set to anxiously anticipating what may or may not happen next. It could be a fear. Fear of not be able to save someone, fear of oblivion, fear of suffering, or loved ones suffering, fear of death–"

"I'm already half-dead, Jazz."

"Or, maybe it could be an overactive thyroid or a sign of some other developing physiological illness? Or–"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Danny interrupted.

Jazz shrugged as she took a small breath of air. "I care about you, Danny, I'm only trying to let you know the psychological aspects behind all this excessive worrying of yours,"

"Jazz, you don't need to psychotically analyze me, or whatever. Remember what happened last time you did?"

She huffed, ignoring that last comment. "Psychoanalysis, Danny. Sigmund Freud would roll over in his grave if he heard you say that."

"Who?"

"That's not the point. Danny, I'm trying to say that I understand you're worried, but you really shouldn't be. If you continue to be on the lookout for trouble, you _will_ find it soon. So just, ease up on the ghostly anticipation, for now, yeah?" Jazz suggested with a light smile.

"Yeah, okay." Danny agreed.

They had a new day ahead of them in Gravity Falls. Maybe this town _is_ actually normal– and in that case, Danny didn't have anything to worry about.

After all, what town could be weirder than Amity Park?

* * *

 **The next chapter will most likely come out sometime next week or this week, if you're wondering. I'll try to update regularly. Also, if you're getting antsy about when they get to meet Dipper, Mabel and all, that's all for the next chapter! Thanks for reading! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long wait! I was struggling with debating on how to write the second scene, and due to that, this chapter came out slightly longer. Hopefully it came out alright. We get to meet the Mystery Shack gang this chapter, fun. Anyways, here's chapter 3.**

* * *

Chapter 3

Currently, the Fenton family was outside the motel, trying to find the closest food establishment in Gravity Falls. At this point, they would settle for anything.

It didn't take long to get Danny and Jazz out of the motel room with the mention of getting food. It was nearly comical. Was the food Maddie made for the roadtrip not enough? Although, looking back on it, even she felt sick after eating one of the glowing green cookies. Maybe her kids were right to not lay a hand on the probably contaminated food.

Fortunately, the motel they were staying at provided a mini map of the town. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good map. Maddie tried to recall what she had seen when they first pulled into the town to the best of her ability, and one place conveniently came to mind.

"I think I saw a diner on that road around the corner," she said, as the family walked further out on the main street.

"Does it have fudge?" Jack asked, shifting his large frame towards his wife. "I'm low on supply, and I need some real soon." he added, and rubbed his arms. He had initially intended to skip the jumpsuit and opt for shorts and a vacation shirt, but Jack being Jack, he decided to fashion his vacation wear _over_ his jumpsuit.

Jazz gave her dad an unimpressed look. "How would she know what's on the menu already?"

"Uh, is that it?" Danny interrupted, pointing in the direction of a building that resembled a mixture of a wooden log and a mobile trailer. The sign above the structure read ' _GREASY'S DINER'._ Danny frowned. Who would use the name Greasy for a restaurant? Then he made a similar connection to a certain place in Amity Park, and suddenly felt the nostalgia washing over.

"Well, Nasty Burger isn't actually nasty, so let's just hope this place has the same kinda thing going on. After all that open road, the last thing I need is to feel grossed out." he reasoned, and Jazz only shrugged.

"Can't hurt to go in," she said, and opened the restaurant door entrance. The smell of sweet pancakes and coffee filled the room, a warming and welcoming aroma that just screamed _eat me._

"Well, this is nice," Maddie said cautiously.

As they sat down at the nearest open booth, an aging large woman with tall hair, blue eyelids and a lazy eye fetched them their menus. Strolling up to them with an unsettling grin, she handed them out and leaned in closely to the booth.

"Oh! I don't recognize you folks. You must be travellers! Are you here to see the attractions? See some sights?" She asked slowly, a southern drawl very present in her voice. Danny blinked.

"Sure, if we can get there." Jazz quipped, a subtle yet intended jab at Jack. Either he didn't notice, or was too happy to care.

"Now Jazz, your father made an honest mistake. Being as tired as he was, I don't blame him for not noticing the... Giant pine trees." She slowed down, questioning her own words. "He really was exhausted." She excused him more confidently.

Danny looked at the menu and strangely, felt sick to his stomach. Usually he could swallow down the entire Nasty Burger without a second bite, but his stomach was doing backflips from worrying about what could happen in this little town in the middle of nowhere. It had made him lose his appetite, but he had to eat something. He tried to tell himself that Jazz was right and it was just the paranoia, but it did little to help.

"The name's Lazy Susan! If you're tourists, go visit the Mystery Shack, best tourist trap– I mean, tourist attraction in town!" she corrected herself, and the Fentons stared at the strange lady. "And if you see an old fart named Stan, tell him to call me." She said loudly, and lifted up her lazy-eye eyelid. Jazz cringed.

"...You betcha." Danny replied, after a few seconds of silence.

"Anyway what'll ya'll have?" Lazy Susan drawled, flipping out a notebook and clicking a pen that Danny didn't notice before.

"Uh, water?" he guessed, struggling to make eye contact with the unsettling woman. Lazy Susan probably owned thirty cats, and could be the poster-woman for crazy cat lady.

"Sure, hun!"

"You, ordering water? That's a first," Jazz commented.

"I'm… not hungry," Danny responded with a shrug.

"Uh, hello? We kind of haven't eaten in what, like a day or more? Aren't you starving?" Jazz questioned, giving her little brother a look. Her questioning made Danny realize that although he had a bad feeling, he was in fact starving.

Danny's stomach growled, and he smiled innocently at Jazz.

"I was. Now I'm not. But if you insist, I'll take the pancakes, change the water to… orange juice, and bacon on the side. And eggs." Danny said, looking back at Jazz. "Actually, with extra bacon," he added as an afterthought.

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Why, aren't you starving?" he retorted, mimicking her words from before. Jazz only rolled her eyes in response and begrudgingly ordered her own breakfast.

Not too long passed before their meals had arrived, and thankfully there was no grease to spare. After a short discussion, the family had in fact decided to take a journey to visit the apparently appraised Mystery Shack. After all, they were tourists. Accidental tourists.

 _Who would want to be a tourist in this town?_ Danny thought, looking at the people in the diner. His eyes drifted to two cops having a competition of who could chug the coffee out the pitcher the fastest. The dark, heavier cop looked as if he was winning, but then shortly after began to yell about the steaming coffee that just went down his throat. Suddenly the other cop did the same thing, and then it turned to a screaming match.

He didn't want to take a second glance at the red-haired giant lumberjack who rivaled even Jack in size by the end of the diner. He was punching the wall, yelling something about manliness. No doubt was he the biggest man he's ever seen. The guy was probably the size of Skulker, if not, bigger.

A small man with an ugly pug face who looked like some kind of journalist or reporter was interviewing a cardboard cutout of a woman, and weirdest of all looked actually convinced that the cutout was a real person. No one batted an eye. Was this considered normal? What was wrong with this town?

"And I thought ghosts were weird," he commented.

"You see the guy talking to himself over there too, right? Please tell me I'm not the only one who is seeing this," Jazz whispers, next to Danny.

Danny smirks. "Who's the paranoid one now?"

As the family finished their meals and payed the bill, they got up to leave but not before Lazy Susan stopped them again.

"Remember, visit the Mystery Shack and tell me if you meet a man named Stan Pines!" she called as they walked out the door, and didn't turn around. Danny paused, and frowned.

"Who the heck is Stan Pines?"

* * *

Wendy Corduroy's face ached on her left cheek from her hand holding up her head. Today was a slow day for the Mystery Shack. Usually Mabel and Dipper would pop in and brighten her day, and then Dipper would get jealous of any other person near her and jump in to try to get some attention, but today, the gift shop was completely void of life other than the bored cashier and the repairman in the far end of the shack. She had the whole day shift, and not one customer had stepped foot into the shack for hours. It was more excruciating than listening to Soos's favourite song, Straight Blanchin'. He actually was playing it before, until Wendy threw an eyeball from the jar sitting on the counter at his head.

She sighed and changed her position, grabbing the magazine she's read through once already, and kicked her boots up onto the counter, leaning back. Even the latest news of boyband Sev'ral Times didn't keep her entertained for long. Wendy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as to why Mabel's magazine was mixed in with her own stash.

"Hey Soos?" Wendy asked.

The man child of an employee looked down from his handyman job of trying to fix a broken lightbulb in the Shack. "Yeah dude? What's up?" he responded, jumping down from the mini stool he was standing on.

Wendy looked up to the ceiling and put her arms behind her head. "I'm like, totally dead and I don't want to get up. Could you grab me a Pitt Cola from the vending machine?"

Soos pointed a finger gun at Wendy and began to walk backwards in the direction of the vending machine. "No problem, dude, be right back!"

"Thanks man!" Wendy calls, as the light bulb sparks and breaks again. She closed her eyes, ready to take a nap, until she heard the dreaded noise that signified a customer, and groaned.

Her ears perked at the sound of the doorbell jingling, and she opened her eyes to see two teenagers walk into the gift shop, roughly about her own age, more or less. Her attention panned to the sight of the black haired, blue eyed teenage boy walking in, and then at the sight of another redheaded girl next to him.

They didn't look much alike, so Wendy didn't think that they were siblings, but she's never seen either of them in Gravity Falls before, so they could be just tourists stopping by.

Shortly after the two teens arrival, two adults followed them shortly after, the door ringing behind them. Wendy assumed it was their parents and then confirmed her suspicions that they were a family of tourists.

The boy chuckled as he picked up one of the smaller 'mystery' trinkets. "Hey Jazz, check it out, a 'not-to-scale replica of the Bat-Rabbit'." He flipped it over and examined the poorly done taxidermy. "Actually… It's kinda cute… it looks kinda like an evil animal ghost."

"You're too weird. Please don't buy that thing. I might cry if I have to sleep with that next to me on the bedstand." The girl, Jazz, responded with a horrified look.

"All the more reason."

"You're the worst."

"I know you are, but what am I?"

"Why am I related to you again?" Jazz asked, and began to walk to the opposite direction of the giftshop away from her brother.

"I ask myself that question every day." he responded, toying with the bat-rabbit in his hands.

"I swear, if you buy that thing…" she trailed off with an empty threat.

"No promises!" He called.

As the teen's parents made their through some other demonstrative versions of exhibits seen on tour, they were apprehensive of the validity, but amused by the the displays nonetheless. They seemed especially intrigued by 'The Invisible Man' attraction over by the museum area of the shack, while the wife poked around at it as her husband yelled obscene things like GHOST. Wendy wasn't even fazed when the man pulled out a weapon to shoot the poorly made attraction. Wasn't her problem.

Wendy held up Mabel's magazine again, flipping through the pages, but was ultimately more interested in the strange family that had walked in, albeit kept the magazine in her hands. She looked at the girl Jazz from the corner of her eye, who was shaking a snow globe with a confused look on her face.

"200 dollars for this?" she mused, and slid it back onto the shelf.

Meanwhile the boy made his way to the counter, but not before looking at one of the pine tree hats and contemplating whether or not to buy it. Seemingly deciding against it, he put the bat rabbit on the counter and added a keychain with a question mark on it, adding to the pile of more junk he was buying.

"Uh, what is this?" He asked, holding up a Stan bobblehead to Wendy.

Wendy looked up from her magazine. "Hm?" she began, and her eyes wandered to the figurine in his hand and laughed. "Oh, that's just my boss Stan. He's a bit…" she trailed off, making eye contact with the blue eyed teen in front of her.

"...Out there." she finished, and a look of recognition crossed his face.

"Stan Pines?" he guessed slowly.

"Yeah, that's him! Wait, how did you know?" Wendy asked, setting the magazine aside.

"Some weird lady in a diner mentioned his name. 'Was wondering who he was." he said casually, leaning an elbow on the counter.

"Lazy Susan?" Wendy suggested with a hint of a smile.

"Lazy Susan," He clarified, his expression mirroring hers. They stood there for a few seconds in comfortable silence, before a look of embarrassment morphed onto his face. "Uh, hey, could you ring me up?"

Wendy blinked. "Oh, right! Sorry man, I'm a little out of it today," she reasoned, and began to scan the items he placed on the counter. The blue eyed teen laughed a bit.

"Oh it's no problem, I mean, my parents live for this kinda stuff, fake or not, I don't think they can even tell the difference, in fact, they're probably gonna buy about twenty more things even after I pay, so, I have time," he responded sheepishly, to the amusement of Wendy.

"I can tell," she said, glancing at his parents who were now examining the Thigh-clops attraction with their tools. The boy looked where she was looking and groaned at his parents' antics. "So, you guys from outta town then?" she asked.

The boy snickered. "Way out. Came from Illinois."

Wendy whistled as she scanned a tourist map, adding to the total cost. "Whoa. Long drive I'm guessing. Chicago?"

"Amity Park."

"Never heard of it. So what brought you guys to a place like Gravity Falls then?" Wendy asked, suddenly interested in the boy in front of her. He was probably the most interesting thing that's happened to her all day.

"My dad's bad driving paired with his bad sense of direction. We came here by accident, we were actually heading to California." he explained, glancing over at his dad again, who was now taking a photo of the Sascrotch.

"So you're one state away from your actual destination," Wendy stated, before snapping her fingers and pointing at the ceiling. "Oh hey, California is where the Pines twins are from!"

"The Pines twins?" he asked, confused. As if on cue, a large thud was heard from upstairs, paired with muffled arguing. A sly smile reached Wendy's face.

"...Is that them?" he asked again, and she nodded curtly, smile not leaving her face.

A shout was heard from upstairs, followed by another crash. "Mabel, let go!"

Another shout and the sound of glass breaking was also heard. "Never!"

"Well, they sound great," the boy said with a laugh. They listened to the noises coming from upstairs, and judging by the yells and crashes, the twins were fighting over something.

"Oh, trust me, they are." she began, and her smile dropped. "Oh, I never got your name!" she said, lifting up the bat-rabbit and scanning it. Each overpriced item she rang up made the total cost unreasonably expensive, but the boy didn't seem to notice, or care.

"Oh! Right, right. It's Danny. Danny Fenton."

"Wendy Corduroy."

"Well hey, now we're not total strangers!" Danny said, and Wendy laughed.

"So, how are you liking Gravity Falls?" she asked, dangling the question mark keychain under the scanner.

"Well, it's–"

"Yo Wendy, dude! You gotta see this!" Soos called, coming down the stairs abruptly, causing Wendy to drop the key chain.

"See what, Soos? And where's the Pitt Cola I asked for?" Wendy asked, picking up the key chain off the floor and placing it back onto the counter.

Soos laughed nervously. "It's–oh. Heh, funny story. So, I was going to the vending machine, right, and then this–"

"Soos."

"Sorry dude, I drank it."

Wendy sighed. "So, what did you want to show me?"

"Show you what?" Soos asked, taking a bite out of a cookie that appeared from nowhere.

"The thing?" Wendy prompted, and Soos seemed to remember.

"Oh! The dudes found some sorta memory confusion-maker device thingy in this totally spooky room in the shack. Didn't even know the room existed. Or did I? I don't remember. Used the thing on myself. I don't remember why exactly, but I did."

"Memory what?" asked Wendy, and right then, Mabel and Dipper came running down the stairs, and into the gift shop, almost toppling each other over in the process.

"You can't stop me!" Mabel yelled. She entered the room first, holding some small silver device and Dipper came down second, chasing after her. The two came out panting, but Mabel was grinning ear to ear, happily revealing her braces. The twins didn't notice Danny standing there, watching the whole scene play out with a half smile, half cringing facial expression.

"Mabel, you can't just use that thing on people like a toy! It could be dangerous!" Dipper warned, but Mabel made a 'pfft' noise and laughed.

"Bro-bro, lighten up! It's cool! It didn't hurt Soos! See?" Mabel said, gesturing to Soos, who mindlessly ate a cookie, seemingly resembling the mindset of Mabel's pet pig, Waddles. Dipper reached for the device in Mabel's hands, but she raised it in the air, higher than he could reach despite her only being about an inch taller.

"WOMP!" she yelled, and pressed the red button on the silver device, aiming it at her twin brother.

"MABEL DON'T PRESS THAT– wait what was I saying?" Dipper asked, blinking after the small blast to the head. Mabel laughs with glee.

"Harmless!" she declared, waving the handheld device around in the air.

"Eh, I've seen freakier," Wendy remarked, tapping her nails on counter.

"Wait, this is normal for you?" Danny asked, looking between the four people around him. Jazz had probably wandered to the museum part of the shack with their parents by now, because no one else but the five were in the gift shop. The twins finally noticed Danny standing across the counter from Wendy, and glanced at each other in some unspoken conversation.

"Pff, yeah. Welcome to Gravity Falls, man." Wendy responded, throwing the key chain in the air casually. Danny looked at the twins, making awkward eye contact with Dipper, who subsequently narrowed his eyes at Danny.

"Who's that?"

* * *

 **Yeah, Dipper is already jealous of Danny, surprise surprise. The amnesia device in this chapter basically works as a temporary confusion device, where you totally forget what just happened. It was just something I made up, it's not the same as the memory wiper in Society of the Blind Eye episode. Thought I'd touch upon that.**

 **Also, thank you for all the reviews, follows and favourites so far! I'm eternally grateful for all your input.**

 **To reviewer ToothPasteCanyon: Thanks for the constructive criticism! I went back and fixed that line so it makes more sense ahaha. Thanks for reading!**

 **Next chapter will hopefully be up by next week, or later. See you then! :)**

 **-dannyghost**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all!**

 **First of all, I would like to majorly apologize for the loooong wait, it's been almost a month since I last updated! I had a huge writer's block and had wasn't motivated for this story, but I finally found where I was headed with this, and now I know where I'm going with all of this. Everything in this story happens for a reason, as cryptic as that sounds.**

 **ALSO, I edited the ending scene in the last chapter pretty recently, as I changed a few details and the grammar tenses which were quite messed up. All is fixed now, so if you'd like, you can go back and reread the ending to it. I'm so thankful for all the the reviews, follows, favourites and views this story has been getting, it's insane. I love all of you guys, seriously, and once again I apologize for this OVERDUE update. I've been itching to post this chapter ever since I finished it during study hall today at school and finally it's here.**

 **Not much of the twins and Danny interacting yet, but it will all come soon. Also, I'd like to address some of the comments and questions that you guys have had.**

 **Empro8: _Thank you! I plan on definitely making it unique from others._**

 **bruno14: _Thank you, and as of now, no, Wendy and Danny are just friends, but you will see their friendship develop over time in the story. Hope that helps! :)_**

 **BaconLover1800: _Thanks!_**

 **StarPaw0007: _Yes indeed, it will, you just wait and see! :D_**

 **TheSilentFury: _Thank you! :)_**

 **Lord Vortrex: _Hello! Okay, about it being inspired by the comics, yes and no. The scene for Wendy and Danny meeting, yes, I was inspired by that scene in the comics, but other than that, it will be totally different. I actually had the idea for this story months ago, before I even read the Cold Front comics (which are amazing by the way) but that particular scene with them first meeting, yes xD_**

 **ToothPasteCanyon: _Thank you! Jazz is the best, I do hope I'm doing her character justice! :)_**

 **Huge fan: _Thank you! That's actually how I envisioned it to be like!_**

 **And without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 4

"Oh, right, I never even introduced you guys! This is Danny, I just met him," Wendy said as she gestured to Danny, who still was feeling a little out of place after witnessing the whole scene that just unfolded before him. Why wasn't Wendy even fazed by these two kids waving around some gun thing? Wasn't that not normal? Or was this normal for them?

Danny was used to ghosts. This wasn't ghosts. This was something other than that, something weird. And ghosts are weird. He thought back to the conversation he had with Jazz in the motel. If she were here, he was pretty sure she would have told him he'd lost his marbles again. Maybe it wasn't the town that was off. Maybe it was just him...

Danny blinked, and then snapped out of his trance. He was sure that other words were exchanged, but he was unsure as to why the both the kids, and Wendy were staring at him. Minus the kid with the pine tree hat. He was glaring. Confused, Danny gave a small smile, and then cleared his throat awkwardly.

"O-oh! Yeah, hi. I'm a– tourist. Which means I don't live here. I'm, just buying... stuff." he explained hastily, cringing at the sound of his own voice faltering.

The girl in the bright pink sweater tilted her head in confusion. "So you're not Wendy's new boyfriend?" she asked.

Danny's eyes widened in surprise. Why would she think that? "I, uh, don't even live here. No." he said, frowning.

"Boyfriend?" Wendy laughed. "Dude, I just met him like, a few minutes ago or something." she said, and Danny looked back at the twins. The kid stopped glaring at him, but his still narrowed eyes begged to differ. Why was he looking at him like that?

"Yeah. What were your names again?" Danny asked, trying to change the subject.

The female, happier seeming twin shoved her brother out of the way, and flashed her braces at Danny with a grin. "I'm Mabel Pines! I love glitter and kittens!" she exclaimed, raising her arms in the air, one being equipped with the weird gun. Her brother rolled his eyes at her introduction, but she elbowed him the arm, making him squeak in alarm.

The boy coughed, rubbing his arm, mumbling something incoherent. "Dipper. My name is Dipper." he said curtley. "Happy now?" he hissed quietly to his sister, and she nodded, unfazed.

Danny frowned. "Is that a nickname?" he blurted, and bit his tongue after asking it.

"N–no," Dipper stuttered. "Why would you ask that?" he countered defensively.

Danny held up his hands to show that he meant no harm. _Shoot. Why did I ask that?_ He thought, and tried to think quickly for a response. "Just asking," he answered. This meeting was starting to get more awkward than when Danny first entered the Ghost Zone and encountered Walker, and as much as cool Wendy was, he kind of wanted to leave. But he still had to buy the things he was in the middle of buying. _World, swallow me whole,_ he thought.

The kid glared stubbornly at Danny, and the teen only nervously smiled in response. Danny fought ghosts everyday, and here he was, being scared around a kid. He couldn't be older than thirteen, maybe even twelve!

Mabel, sensing the tension, grabbed her brother by the arm not occupied by the memory gun. "Hey Dipper, I need your help with something that requires us leaving this room and going upstairs that's not here!"

Dipper looked at his sister confusedly, and then back at Wendy and Danny. "Help with what, Mabel–"

"Now!" she said abruptly, and dragged him off into the _Employee's Only_ room. The sound of struggling footsteps were then heard, followed by a shout, and shoes abrasively thudding against wooden stairs.

"Mabel! I need to–"

"Not today you aren't!"

Their voices were still clearly audible from the other room, but their conversation was only heard in certain parts, which really, made no sense to probably anyone else but them.

Danny swallowed, and attempted to nonchalantly lean against the counter. "So," he began, glancing at Wendy. "They seem… cool…?"

"They usually are. I dunno what's got Dipper acting like that though. He's usually less angry and more awkwardly sweaty. The only time he usually gets like this is around Robbie…" Wendy paused, squinting her eyes as if to make some sort of revelation. Then she shrugged, and went back to scanning the items on the counter. "Eh, probably like, puberty or something."

"Righttttt." Danny said, and looked back at the junk he was buying. "Well, this is the officially the longest time ever taken to make a purchase," he laughed, as Wendy scanned the last item, which was the very same Bat-Rabbit that Jazz had told him not to buy. Granted, he was only buying it to annoy her.

Wendy smirked at the stuff toy, and rang up the total cost on the machine. "You should see how I work on weekends."

"Wow. You work on weekends?" Danny blinked.

"Nope. Well, I'm supposed to. Your total's $49.80, by the way," Wendy responded as she shoved the items into a bag.

"Oh! Right. Almost forgot," Danny stumbled, taking out his wallet and handing her a fifty. She took the bill and gave him back change, and handed him the bag. "Now I just have to find my family and hope they're not shooting inanimate objects with ectoplasm," he said, to which Wendy lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "Long story."

She laughed, and then stopped, seeming to realize something. "Hey, you're pretty cool, actually, do you think we can hang out sometime, y'know, like, when I'm off work?"

Danny was baffled for a few seconds. _Wow, she actually wants to hang out with me? So I'm not a complete dork? Take that, Jazz!_ "Well, um, yeah, sure, I'm in town for a few more days, so… maybe we could meet somewhere, or something?" he offered.

"Yeah! Dude, we should totally hang out tomorrow, I get off work early then at noon. And you can even tell me about whatever it is that your family does that they carry ecto...plasm… in their guns. I mean, my family has firearms but my dad likes to use his fists…" Wendy trailed off. "And I could totally tell you all the spooky town stories and mysteries of Gravity Falls!"

Danny grinned. Wendy reminded him a lot of Sam; she was fearless and forward. He was still a little homesick, and the ghost paranoia kicked in every now and then, but this was definitely compensation. Spooky town stories? It was beginning to sound like Amity Park already.

"Deal," he decided, and glanced behind him, "I mean, I'd rather do pretty much anything else than spend another second being around for my parents' ghost hunting palooza," and gestured to his mom excitedly coming out of the museum exhibition portion of the shack. Danny had to mentally brace himself for the embarrassment that was soon yet to come.

"Dude, what? Ghost hunting palooza?" Wendy laughed.

"Danny, you have to see this! Your father and I just caught a ghost in the exhibit using the Fenton Ghost Weasel!" Maddie exclaimed, dashing into the gift shop.

 _And there it is,_ Danny thought, and groaned internally. Another excited shout from Jack was heard back in the other side of the shop, and in a blur, Maddie was gone again.

Danny cringed, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "My parents are, uh, tourist shop fanatics?" he tried. He didn't exactly want Wendy knowing that his parents were ghost hunting loons, not yet, at least.

Wendy however, didn't seem to buy it, and with a wry smile, leaned her elbows on the counter. "Okay, 'tell ya what. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but you're so telling me next time we see each other. Meet me at the totem pole at 2 o'clock tomorrow? Y'know, the one that's been tipped over since yesterday?"

"Yeah, I know the one. I'll see you there, then!" Danny began, and looked back to see Jazz approaching with an annoyed look on her face. "But… I should go before my family does something weird again."

"Ya probs should," she agreed, sitting back on her stool with a small hand gesture. Danny smiled, walking backwards in the original direction he came from almost in a trance just as he bumped into his sister.

"Oof! Danny! You were here the whole time? I was in the museum with mom and dad for ages, I was wondering where you were!" Jazz exclaimed, rubbing her head.

"Yeah, I never left. Are mom and dad done with… whatever they're doing yet?" Danny asked, squinting. Their parents seemed to be dissecting the tourist attractions with their tools, Maddie frowning while Jack acted as if he had just won a prize. A cheaply made, knock-off prize.

"They better be, if not I'm gonna drag them out myself. We've been here forever and I don't think I can take tourist trap memorabilia for any longer." Jazz rolled her eyes. "Mom! Dad!" she called, walking back into the museum room. Danny followed meekly behind her, and waited for Jazz to say whatever it was she was going to say to get her parents out of the shop.

Jack and Maddie looked up to see their children come out of the giftshop, and smiled.

"Dannyboy!" Jack greeted.

"Oh hey, Danny!" Maddie said cheerfully, retracting a Fenton tool set from her belt. "Isn't this place fascinating?" she pondered.

"If you count bad taxidermy as fascinating, then yes. Very fascinating," Danny replied, glancing down at the store bag in his hand. It contained the Bat-Rabbit he bought with the sole purpose of annoying Jazz, and even looking back on it now, he didn't regret his purchase once.

Jazz put on a false look of pain and turned to her parents. "Mom, when are we leaving? We've been here for _so long_ and I want to get back to the motel room. I'm tired and hungry again and my feet hurt, _LET'S LEAVE_ ," she complained.

Maddie looked back at her daughter, and seemed to agree. "Sure, but let me just look at–"

"Great! Let's go now!" Jazz chastised.

"But–"

"Hey, dad, what's that outside the Mystery Shack?" Danny exclaimed, pointing to the window with fake enthusiasm laced in his voice. Granted, there was nothing actually outside, but Danny knew that even hinting the appearance of a ghost somewhere would always trigger his parents obsession, and make a great escape route for anything. Jazz was right, they actually had spent an awful long time at the tourist trap– but not that Danny minded. Talking to Wendy felt so short but it actually was a while. He could only imagine what Jazz had to be doing this entire time.

Jack seemed to buy it however, and grabbed Danny by the arms protectively with wide eyes. "Ghost!? Maddie, let's go!" he shouted, and scooped his wife up bridal style, slamming the exit door, and running out of the tourist trap, startling Wendy, leaving Jazz and Danny behind.

Jazz turned to Danny and smirked. "Thanks, little brother."

"No problem." he grinned. "We should go, though."

"Yeah, we should," Jazz agreed, beginning to walk out of the shop. Danny followed her, but not before stopping and giving a small wave goodbye to Wendy. She looked up from her magazine and smiled, giving a soldier's salute back. Jazz pushed open the door of the entrance and stepped outside.

"Huh, wonder where they went…" Jazz wondered, raising a brow as she scanned their surroundings.

"Maybe over there attacking that weird old guy?" Danny guessed, prompting both the siblings to witness their parents attacking a barefooted hillbilly hobo looking man with a bandaid on his beard, overalls and a worn out brown hat.

Jazz blinked, and then slowly held a hand up to her mouth. "Good point." she said hesitantly.

"He'll be fine," Danny assured, as his sister's frown deepened. He turned to Jazz, a feral smile morphing onto his face. "Oh, Jazz, you'll never believe what I just bought."

Jazz huffed. "Danny, I swear, if it's that bat thing…"

* * *

Upstairs in the Pines' twins bedroom, Dipper was pacing back and forth around the space between the beds. He continuously clicked the pen in his hand off and on to the annoyance of Mabel, who sat cross legged on her bed beside Waddles, listening to Dipper rant.

"And did you see the way Wendy was looking at him? She totally likes him, Mabel!" Dipper exclaimed, pressing his thumb on the button of the pen so hard it made an indent in his finger. "What if he likes her back?! Oh my gosh, he probably does! I mean who wouldn't like Wendy, she's perfect! What if they start dating and fall in love and get married and then–"

"Wait, I thought you said you were gonna stop obsessing over Wendy after the whole Bunker thing happened?" Mabel interrupted.

"I, uhm, haven't."

"So–"

"But the guy!" Dipper exclaimed, clicking his pen off and on even faster than before.

"But Dipper, they just met, and he's a tourist anyways!" Mabel reasoned.

Dipper twitched. "But what if he's not a tourist? What if he's just saying that? What if he's actually some kind of creature, or something? We don't know these things!"

"Okay, now you're just acting craaazy." Mabel said as she twirled her finger around in a circular motion near her head, and went cross eyed. "Danny seems like a normal guy! If anything, he's like a hundred times better than Robbie." she declared, but comparing Danny to Robbie didn't calm Dipper down in the slightest.

"Exactly! And Robbie's a total jerk, and this guy isn't as much of a jerk, which means he'll have a better chance with Wendy!" he shouted, and Waddles made a high pitched squeal in response.

Mabel gasped dramatically at the sound of Waddles squealing. "Oh, what's that, Waddles? You think Dipper's acting crazy about Wendy again too?" she asked, scratching behind her pet pig's ears. "Why, yes he is, yes he is!" she cooed.

"I'm not crazy! I'm rationalizing," Dipper defended.

Mabel blew a raspberry. "Rationalizing, smashinalyzing!" she dismissed, and threw a pillow with a glittery pink unicorn on it at Dipper's head. It hit him on the side of his head, nearly knocking his hat off in the process to her amusement.

Dipper adjusted his hat back onto his head and turned to his sister. "I'm serious, Mabel." he said firmly, but it did little to faze his sister.

"So is Waddles," she responded.

Dipper plopped down on the ground, making a dull thud. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm calm, I'm calm."

"Are you sure, bro-bro?" Mabel tilted her head, unsure of her brother's mental state.

"Positive. Eeee-yup." he drawled, popping the p. A comfortable silence passed over the two before he spoke again, coming back to an earlier thought which he almost forgot about– the reason why Mabel forcefully dragged him up here in the first place. Mabel never turned down the opportunity to introduce herself to strangers, it was like her specialty in extended greetings to random people.

Dipper frowned as he got himself off the floor, but this time didn't go back to pacing around the room. "Hey, why did you bring me up here anyways? You said you needed my help with something and then dragged me up the stairs. Literally. What was that about?"

"Pshh, oh, that. I could tell that if you stayed there any longer you probably would have either attacked Danny or said something horribly embarrassing for yourself so I thought I'd be nice and save you from doing something dorky. You're welcome!" she chirped, flailing her arms in the air with the sleeves of her sweater.

Dipper scoffed awkwardly. "Dorky? Me? I think you've got the wrong guy– Oof!" he exclaimed as he tripped over Waddles, who he didn't notice had been behind him until now. "What the heck?"

"I rest my case!" Mabel said triumphantly, much to Dipper's dismay.

"Okay, fine. I'll try to stop obsessing over Wendy. For now. I just gotta distract myself." he said, but more to himself than actually to Mabel.

"Why don't we try to look for one of the freaky monsters in your journal thing-a-ma-bob? Then you can obsess over that instead of Wendy!" Mabel suggested.

"What? I don't obsess over the anomalies in the journal…" Dipper trailed off. "Okay, maybe a little. Fine."

"Great! Hey, what about that cute red platypus we saw one time in the woods when we were trying to catch that Leprecorn the other day?" Mabel asked, bringing them both back to the memory of when Mabel accidentally encountered the Leprecorn near a stray box of sugary cereal in the woods. Dipper shivered at the thought, and tried to remember seeing the so called 'cute red platypus' that day.

He looked up at the ceiling to think for a few seconds before the memory came back to him. "Oh, you mean the plaidypus?" he guessed.

"YEAH!" Mabel agreed. "The plaidypus!"

"Plaidypus it is," Dipper agreed, but then suddenly stopped himself short. "Plaid… like Wendy… because Wendy wears plaid!" he exclaimed, and Mabel rolled her eyes.

"Why don't we just invite Wendy to come with us then to look for it? I mean, she was saying that she was super bored because the others went to a concert out of town or something."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, she told us earlier today when you were zoned out staring at her like a weirdo." she explained, and Dipper pouted out his bottom lip, thinking. They could go tomorrow and if they found it, he could impress Wendy and she would forget all about the tourist guy from earlier.

"Okay, I'll ask her today," he decided. What could go wrong?

* * *

 **Annnnd those also happen to be famous last words. You'll see how these plans will soon intervene will something else, heh. Expect an update coming soon, and y'know, not a month from now, like this one was xD**

 **Please leave a review if you've liked this story, and as always, thank you so much!**

 **\- dannyghost :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I'm back with yet another chapter, and it's way long, too! I'm so grateful for all the reviews, favourites and follows this story has been getting, so thank you all so much! It really means a lot to me. I'd also like to address some of the reviews:**

 **To Guest, IluvmycatNala, ToothPasteCanyon, Guest:** Thank you guys! I'm glad you all are liking the story so far! :)

 **lupsss1412:** Well considering this isn't going to be a Danny x Wendy fic, then hm, maybe. I do ship Danny and Sam as well, and I do have some plans for that much later on in the story. :) Thanks for the review!

 **Gold1992:** Thank you for the suggestions and comments, I will definitely use those in the near future! Also, yes, I don't plan to use any ghosts from Amity Park in this fic seeing as it takes place in the GF area. So the creatures and monsters will be all coming from the Gravity Falls side. I'm glad you enjoyed!

 **That is all for now! Enjoy the chapter!**

 ***UPDATE*: I JUST REALIZED NOW THAT COPY AND PASTE DIDN'T WORK PROPERLY SO WHEREVER I WANTED TO PUT ITALICS IN THE CHAP THERE AREN'T ANY. I TRIED CHANGING THE CONTENT OF THE CHAPTER LIKE THREE TIMES BUT IT WON'T WORK SO I'M GOING TO HAVE TO MANUALLY ADD BACK IN EVERY ITALICIZED WORD OR PHRASE RIP thats all**

* * *

Chapter 5

Hours later at the Mystery Shack, Dipper was sat on a stool in front of the cash register, mumbling to himself, sorting out change and bills. It was just after closing hours, the gift shop now closed in the evening, and he was meant to be counting the money in the register that was earned from the day. The air was thick and the silence was dull, accompanied by only the droning hum of the vending machine. To say the least, Dipper was disappointed that he had been given the night shift.

Mabel was out at the mall with Candy and Grenda, and by now she should have been back, but knowing her, they were probably held up by seeing a 'cute boy' or saw a puppy and decided to take photos or something. Consequently, Dipper had been secretly hoping she would have come back so they would ask Wendy together to come along to their weekly adventure. After all, it was Mabel who suggested the idea, although thinking back on it now, it wouldn't exactly help calm down his obsession with Wendy at all, if not, make it worse than it already is.

He really didn't want to seem too desperate, and asking her alone to come to the woods didn't exactly seem 'casual'. Sure, they wouldn't be alone in the woods, but the impression alone could be enough to turn Wendy away, and in no way did he want that to happen. He needed to be as chill as she is. He needed to go with the flow. Be as swift as a coursing river and all that. Yeah. _Be a man,_ he thought to himself.

He laid out a stack of ten dollar bills into the cash register, and tried to psych himself out to prepare himself to ask Wendy. "Okay, I just gotta be mature. 'Gotta roll with the punches. Learn to make punches. Learn to take punches. Don't be desperate, 'cause that's not cool, and I'm a cool dude. Definition of cool. Be cool," he chanted, as he dropped the coins into the register. A few stray quarters from the pile of change seemed to slip from his grasp and spilled out, making a ringing _clang_ as they hit the wooden floor of the gift shop.

"Aw, darnit," Dipper complained as he bent down to grab the change. He struggled to pick up the coins on the ground for a few seconds before managing to group them up back into his hand. "Aha!" he cheered triumphantly, coming back up from the ground, only to hit his head on the underside of the counter, hard. He cringed upon impact and dropped the change once more, opting to rub his head in pain as he stayed crouching down under the counter.

"Ugh," he groaned, returning back to stand on his feet. "Okay, maybe I'm not as cool as I thought." He slapped the change back into the register drawer and sighed, head still hurting from before.

"I don't doubt that one bit," a familiar voice chuckled. The footsteps of rain boots creaked against the wooden boards and got louder as the person came closer.

Dipper's eyes widened in shock as he turned around to face the culprit. "Wendy!" he exclaimed, voice cracking horribly. "When'd you get here? Heh, heh, I thought you were leaving!" he tried, but the sound of his nervous laughter ruined whatever he was trying to accomplish. He bit his lip anxiously, hoping not to sound as nervous as he actually was, and hoped to the heavens that she didn't see him embarrassingly hit his head against the counter.

Instead, she just lazily grinned and set her bag behind the counter, the same place where Dipper had just hit his head moments ago. "Ugh, I was on my way out, but then Stan said that I wouldn't get paid this week unless I restock the shelves tonight. So, here I am," Wendy explained, clearly bored.

"So you're actually going to restock the shelves?" Dipper questioned, despite his earlier anxiousness. Judging by Wendy's actions, she didn't hear or see what just happened, so he was in the clear.

Wendy snorted. "No, as if." she said incredulously, as if Dipper was crazy to even assume that she legitimately came back to work willingly. "I forgot some stuff earlier, came back to get it," she responded. "And that's just handy because that gave me a reason to come back, and a reason for Stan to think that I actually came back to work!"

"You're amazing," Dipper said in awe, staring at Wendy like she was the greatest thing since sliced bread. And to him, she was.

"What?" Wendy asked confusedly.

"Nothing!" he defended, and then added: "I, uh, said… raising! You're, uh, raising the roof off this place! Haha!"

Wendy laughed as his poor correction skills. "Are you sure you're okay, Dipper? Did you hit your head pretty hard or something?" she asked, and leaned against the shop counter across from the preteen.

Dipper's eyes widened in shock. "You saw that?"

Wendy smirked. "I pretended not to, but dude, you gotta admit, it was pretty funny," she admitted, and Dipper cringed. _Great,_ he thought, suddenly feeling embarrassment wash over.

"Heh, heh, yeah…" He agreed forcefully, laughing along with Wendy as he rubbed at the bump forming under his hat. _"Stop laughing,"_ he whispered to himself, horrified. Wendy didn't seem to notice what he just whispered, but then again, it also didn't seem like she noticed him bump his head, which she clearly did.

"So," he began, voice cracking in the process. He coughed into his fist and tried again. "So, uhm, I was wondering if you wanted to…"

"To what?" Wendy asked curiously. She seemed actually genuine, but for some reason Dipper suddenly felt all nervousness instead of normalness.

He wished that Mabel was here, for the second time now, and just hoped that she would pop through the gift shop door any second now. Not that he didn't like being alone with Wendy, but at the current moment, he felt like he was drowning in a cup of water.

"...To come on our next monster hunt in the woods to find a questionable creature of the unknown to prove yet another anomaly in this town that we may or may not find depending on how far we venture off into the woods of Gravity Falls?" he spluttered out quickly.

Before Wendy could open her mouth to respond, he added: "Not that I'm trying to like… get you alone or anything! I mean, like, with Mabel and I! ...And Soos!"

She laughed lightly and punched him in the arm. "Yeah, sure, man! That sounds totally cool! Of course I'll come, why would I wanna miss out on another crazy fun adventure with you two?" she asked. "I mean, after that whole Bunker shape shifter thing, I'm like, totally up for it."

"Wait, really?" Dipper responded instinctively, though more to himself than to Wendy. He then grinned, suddenly feeling a new boost of confidence. "Great! So... you're not busy or anything?"

"Yeah, pretty much, like dude, I'm free and bored out of my mind because Nate, Lee and the others left me to travel cross country for some indie rock festival. Jerks." she said dismissively, picking up the box of things she was supposed to reshelf and setting it on the counter.

Dipper furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Wait what? Why couldn't you go with them?"

"Ugh, don't even remind me about it," she moaned in annoyance, rolling her eyes. "So basically my dad didn't let me go because he didn't want me slacking on studying botany in case I ever have to survive in the wild, crazy right?" she asked, clicking her tongue.

"Botany? What?"

"Yeah. Well like, you can't study plants in the winter during regular apocalypse training which my dad makes us do over Christmas, so during summer vacation we learn about plants."

Dipper squinted in confusion, making a face. "...I...don't know how to respond to that," he admitted, after a few seconds of silence. Wendy just laughed.

"Oh trust me, neither did I at first. Then the next thing you know you're planting blood blossoms in the front yard to ward off evil spirits," she commented, and they shared a laugh before she continued. "Anyway, it sucks, so to get out of that and go on another crazy monster hunt in the woods would be wicked cool. Besides, without me you're gonna get your butts kicked."

"That… that's pretty true. I can't think of anyone else that wields an axe better than you," he agreed with another laugh. "But it's not gonna be a dangerous one this time, I hope." Dipper assured her. In actuality he had only seen the creature once briefly as he and Mabel passed by it and didn't know much about it other than its appearance, but it couldn't hurt to find out.

"You hope? What are we looking for anyways?" she asked with sudden interest. Dipper perked up at her question.

"Oh, it's this really amazing–" Dipper began, but cut himself short. "Actually, wait, I won't tell you what it is because then that would ruin the surprise." he decided, although the surprise part was no doubt improvised.

The redhead grinned. "A surprise? Oh man, now I really wanna know. When abouts are we going, dude?"

Dipper looked up in deep thought. "Well I was thinking tomorrow after lunch–"

"Oh my gosh, I totally forgot!" she exclaimed suddenly, raising her hands up to her head. Dipper blinked.

"What? Forgot what?" he asked confusedly. He had no idea what it could have been that possibly triggered Wendy's blatant outburst.

"Danny!" She exclaimed again.

"Who?"

"The guy!"

"The wiggity what now?"

"The guy, y'know, from earlier today, the one I was talking to at the cash register," Wendy exhaled.

The hand that Dipper held below the counter clenched into a fist as he remembered the teenage boy from earlier. _The tourist guy._ "Oh. Him." he responded meekly, swallowing the lump forming in his throat. He tried to hold down his jealousy as best as he could and clamped his mouth shut before he could say anything else.

"Yeah, the guy! Danny, I mean. I told him we were gonna hang out tomorrow and like the idiot I am, I didn't even get his number. Sucks too, he was so cool." she explained, visibly showing guilt.

Dipper looked side to side awkwardly. "Okay… so… What?"

"I mean, I can't just stand him up but like this monster hunt in the woods sounds totally sick…" She trailed off.

"So what do you want to do then?" Dipper asked nervously, secretly hoping that she wouldn't ask to bring Danny along.

 _Please don't ask to bring him with us. Please don't ask to bring him with us. Please don't ask to bring him with us,_ Dipper chanted in his mind.

"Well, I told him to meet me at the totem pole tomorrow at 2, and since I didn't get his number or anything it's not like I can suddenly change plans or something, ergh, I don't know what to do, dude!"

Dipper considered rescheduling the hike in the woods to happen later so Danny didn't have to come along– it was the safest option. Then the tourist guy wouldn't have to get roped into the whole supernatural business, he seemed too normal for that kind of thing anyways. "Well, I could–"

"Oh my gosh, I got it!" Wendy shouted, ignoring what Dipper was about to say and continued: "Okay, hate to be like, intrusive or whatever but like, would it be cool if he came along?"

Before Dipper could even respond, Mabel took that exact moment to walk through the door of the gift shop, making her usually grand and loud entrance. The door slammed open and the optimistic twin waltzed through the shop. "Oooooh I hear Wendy making plans with a boy that's not Dipper!" she teased.

"Hey, Mabel!" Wendy greeted.

"Hey Wendy!" she replied happily.

Dipper huffed at his sister's earlier comment. "Well, actually–"

"Yeah, I was just asking Dipper if I could bring Danny with us," Wendy supplied. Dipper deflated with disappointment.

Mabel gasped with excitement. "That sounds fun! Right Dipper?"

"Yeah," Dipper squeaked. "Fun." he suddenly felt like Mabel was reacting this way on purpose just to bug him, but then her next outburst diminished that idea.

"AND GUESS WHO BOUGHT SEV'RAL LEGWARMERS!" she squealed in delight, showing off her sparkling fuchsia legwarmers in front of Dipper and Wendy. "I'm 80s fashion and you can't stop me!" she declared, causing Wendy to laugh.

"Woo! You go girl!" The teen cheered.

"I thought you didn't like boybands," Dipper commenting, turning back to Wendy.

"My dad's a huge fan of Sev'ral Timez. I've learned to adapt to my surroundings, man."

The twins held a simultaneous agreement to Wendy's statement before Mabel spoke up. "So Danny's coming with us tomorrow?" she asked.

Dipper jumped in surprise. "Wait, what? He's actually coming with us?" he asked panickedly, swallowing.

Wendy looked over at him. "Why, is that a problem?" she asked. "Look, if it's not cool with you, then I can just tell him to–"

"No, no, I'm cool. I'm very cool. Cool as _ice._ Totally fine with it. Heh. Heh." Dipper twitched. "I think I'm… gonna... go now." he said hurriedly, and hopped off the stool, running out of the gift shop until he reached the house part of the Shack.

Wendy and Mabel stood in silence as they listened to the hurried footsteps heading up the creaky stairs, and a small yelp followed by a thud, presumably Dipper tripping over his feet on the very same stairs.

"Yeesh, what's up with him?" Wendy asked, frowning.

"Puberty," Mabel shrugged. "I should probably go after him, though," she clarified, and then promptly left the gift shop, taking off in the same direction as her brother.

"Well, I'm not staying to work," Wendy said to herself, and then exited the gift shop through the door, humming to herself with her hands in her pockets.

* * *

"Dipper, your pacing is gonna leave a hole in the floor. You're gonna end up falling into the kitchen if you don't stop!" Mabel warned in annoyance. Dipper had had a firm crease in his brow since his last encounter with Wendy which ended in him barricading himself in their bedroom, and Mabel following suit.

Of all the unfortunate things that could have happened, letting some mysterious and cute teenage boy tag along in their weekly weird adventure would definitely be the worst for Dipper's 'try to be mature and cool to impress Wendy and make her catch feelings' plan.

Mabel knew that Dipper would somehow manage to make a fool out of himself trying to play it cool and deal with things not turning out as planned. He's just too much of a stiff stickler for the details.

"Why him! Why does it have to be someone so… I don't know… Normal! He's just a regular guy! There's nothing that can go wrong… which means for me, everything is gonna go wrong!"

Mabel huffed. "Dipper–"

"No, I mean, if it was Robbie then fine, whatever, Robbie is a dramatic, sad excuse for life but this guy is just… Plain. Normal." he babbled, then suddenly stood up straight. "Unless… he isn't." he said wide eyed.

"Oh no, Dipper, you are not going there with this. You can't turn every mishap in Gravity Falls into some goose chase for goblins! You're just gonna end up looking crazier than you already are!" Mabel argued. Why was her brother so paranoid sometimes?

"Okay fine. He's no 'Norman'. So sure, he's not a bunch of gnomes. He was wearing a t-shirt anyway, so we can rule that out. But the undead is still a viable possibility." Dipper had a pensive look on his face. He swiped the journal out of his vest and with a swift flick through the book he landed upon a random page which happened to be the page of gnomes. But before he could do or say anything else, Mabel slammed the book right on his nose.

"Ow, Mabel, that hurt!" he whined.

"I know." she replied happily, but with a glare from her brother, she subsided. "Oh come on! Bro-bro, every time you overthink things, things go wrong. He's not even _from_ Gravity Falls. And all the usual weird stuff from the journal doesn't even apply to outsiders anyway."

"That's true…" Dipper trailed off, but he still didn't quite want to let go of his suspicions yet. The more Mabel debunked his theories, the less he held on to them, but he still wasn't going to let go entirely. Not after Norman.

"Yeah! Danny's like… as normal as… Tad Strange!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Yeah, but Tad Strange is _super_ normal to the point of being like, the most normal guy ever. This guy's _gotta_ have something weird about him. Something!" Dipper tried.

"Maybe he has a secret collection of teddy bears in his closet!"

"...Not the kind of weird I'm talking about, Mabel." With a solemn look upon his face, he set the journal on the bedside table and plopped face first into his pillow.

"Oh come on, Dippy-pop! Just let it go. There's nothing wrong with Danny, I mean we haven't even met the guy for more than a few minutes!" she replied, climbing into her own bed.

"Why do I feel like we've had this conversation already?" Dipper groaned into his pillow.

"Because we have," Mabel replied nonchalantly.

Dipper mumbled in annoyance and turned his head towards his sister when he heard her snickering into the sleeve of her sweater. "What's so funny?" He asked confusedly.

Mabel laughed louder this time. "It's just…" she began, trying to calm herself down for her laughing fit. "I just can't believe you actually _considered_ gnomes!" She teased, and Dipper broke out into a grin. Even in the dampest of situations, theorizing the blatant possibility of gnomes posing as people never failed to make the Pines twins laugh.

The twins bickered as they got ready for bed, Mabel making fun of Dipper's crazy theory, and even then, she felt relieved that she was finally knocking some sense into her brother's crackpot theory of Danny being some creature.

Although still, even as Mabel was now already asleep, and as Dipper layed in bed thinking of any possible smidge of weirdness in the tourist boy, something didn't sit right with him.

He knew Mabel was right, and that he usually came to overthink things, but sometimes he was right, and he couldn't help but feel that something was off about Danny. He'd have to be discrete about it, but there was no way he'd be letting his guard down. And he wanted to find out what– even if he had to stay up all night thinking.

* * *

Danny stared up at the ceiling of the poor quality motel room, laying in bed, his arms crossed behind his head. His mind was restless, and even though he was pretty tired from all the events of today, he couldn't help but wonder about the possibilities of tomorrow.

Gravity Falls being weird was apparently a given, but weirder than ghosts? Wendy seemed to hint so, the way she didn't even question his ghost hunter parents or those kids swinging around questionable weaponry.

 _Who knows,_ Danny thought, _maybe the gnome I saw was just a ghost that likes gnomes, or took the form of a gnome._ Then again, seeing is believing, and Wendy might not have had the whole story. He rolled off his back and made his way toward the window, looking out at the dead streets in the night time.

"What are you planning, little brother?" Jazz asked, making Danny yelp in surprise.

"I'm not planning anything, Jazz, is it so dangerous to look out a window at night?" he asked, but his shoulders slumped at the look his sister gave him.

Jazz squinted her eyes at Danny and he stared right back at her. "Spit it out," she sighed, crossing her arms.

"Nothing," he denied, pulling his best poker face.

"I can tell when you're lying, Danny," Jazz responded, sizing him up.

Danny mirrored her expression and refused to break the staring contest they were now apparently having. "If you can tell when I'm lying then why are you such a bad liar?"

"Hah! So you were lying!" Jazz said triumphantly. Danny held a sour expression as she continued being the overbearing sister she was. "Okay, what is it? You planning to go somewhere?" she guessed.

"Maybe, I don't know. I'm bored. I think I'm just gonna look around for a bit and tire myself out." he admitted, and was met with a look of disapproval.

"Isn't it a little late, Danny?" Jazz scolded, but he seemed unfazed nonetheless by her accusations.

"Gee, thanks, _mom._ We haven't really checked out the town anyway, I mean, not after the whole getting the cops off mom and dad's backs after they assaulted that old hobo." Danny commented, and Jazz looked at him in consideration.

"But we can explore the town tomorrow in the daytime!" she suggested, but Danny just shrugged, and transformed into Phantom, making her cringe and shield her eyes from the bright flash omitting from his rings of light.

"I have plans tomorrow," he said, and turned around to face Jazz. "Cover for me?" he pleaded, and received only an eyeroll in response from his sister.

"Didn't hear a no, so I'm taking that as a yes!" Danny called, slipping into intangibility, and phasing through the window of the motel room.

"Wait, plans to do what?!" he heard Jazz call from the distance, but by now he was too far to respond. He'd tell her all about Wendy later, but right now, he wanted to explore the small town. He grabbed a hold of his invisibility, ensuring there would be no witnesses to 'Amity Park's hero' being spotted hundreds of kilometres away from where he was supposed to be.

Swooping downwards first to create momentum, Danny found himself overlooking the entire town, the tallest structure being the water tower with a muffin spray painted on one side it. He was underwhelmed with its complexity, and yet pleased with how connected it must be to live in such a quaint community.

He hovered in place high above the parking lot of the motel, looking up at the stars and taking in the peace of the moment, the wind, the nature, and the sudden blast of green light from his parents room that made his whole body tense up and brace for an impact that never came.

"Probably a misfire. Heh." He mused.

With a nervous grin he flew off in the other direction, towards the town square. A bank, a museum, city hall… pretty standard town stuff. Maybe he could go check out those exhibits… _Oh. Exhibits._ He thought to himself.

Leaving the town square and heading further away from the downtown area, he happened to stumble once again upon the Mystery Shack. Sure it wasn't the most legitimate establishment, as far as anyone with two eyes and a brain could figure, but Danny enjoyed the sample exhibits in the gift shop.

If the actual tour was more of that, then he was happy to steal a peek. He flew in through the window of the shack, and landed in the museum portion of the Mystery Shack. Once he knew he was alone and in the tour he let his invisibility drop, and from his hand held up a small ball of glowing ectoplasm to guide him through the darkness of the room. His body was tense as he knew sneaking in was somewhat wrong, but as he floated towards the first case his stress doubled as he tried to hold in his laughter.

On the nameplate of the piece it read _'Lumberjackeloupe'_ , under a cantaloupe with a beard and axe. Danny lived for puns, and these kinds of cheap attractions shouldn't go unappreciated. He mentally acknowledged the person who came up with the time to create these god-awful puns for attractions. They were so _bad_ that they were _good._

Pun after stupid pun he drifted through, until he came close enough to see a dim light at the end of the showroom. As he inched forward he could hear gentle shuffling coming from the gift shop. _Yep, definitely not alone anymore,_ he internally groaned. He immediately extinguished his ecto-ball and turned invisible before flying towards the noise.

 _Well if it isn't Mr. Mystery himself,_ Danny thought, looking at his night-time companion.

Stan Pines looked pissed– to put it nicely. Maybe that was just his resting face, but he sure didn't look too thrilled to be restocking shelves at 11 at night.

"Why am I paying her if she doesn't even restock the damn shelves before closing up? Why do I even keep her around? Ugh… _teenagers._ I mean if you're gonna slave away for cheap money then at least put some effort into it." He grumbled to himself.

Danny bit his lip inquisitively at Stan's brutal honesty. _He must be talking about Wendy,_ Danny thought, reminiscing back to his brief encounter with the redheaded cashier. Stan was right, in a way– Wendy wasn't the most efficient worker at the Shack.

Stan finished quickly after that, and after kicking the cardboard box behind the cash register's desk he walked towards the vending machine and immediately raised his finger to the keypad. Danny floated up behind him, wondering what candy he would get so late at night. Stan paused for a brief moment, looking left and then right. Danny noticed Stan's body stiffened and his face froze in a more neutral expression as though he noticed something to his right.

Danny nearly loudly gasped when Stan suddenly turned to look behind him, only for him to see right through his gaze. Danny let out a soft sigh of relief when he realized he was probably just looking out the door to the shop, and reminded himself that he was currently invisible.

Stan looked once more to his right and with a face that now held disgust and once again annoyance, he stiffly walked away from the vending machine and towards the door to the house portion of the shack.

Dumbfounded, Danny looked to where Stan's right gaze rested upon a mirror at the end of the aisle of the gift shop. As he floated towards it he could see his own reflection. He hovered in front of it and raised his hand to fix the part in his hair, before realizing he couldn't see his physical arm in front of his face. He was still holding invisibility.

Like a deer in headlights, he froze in place, eyes widening. His hand covered his mouth and he exhaled a slow and steady breath in hope to calm his now rapidly beating heart. Stan had seen him. Stan saw him and left scared. He probably thought he's now got a teenage ghost stalker to take revenge for all teenagers getting paid bad wages for bad jobs… or something.

Not only has he shown himself to an outsider of a non-ghost-infested town, but he let himself be seen all because he was bored and just had to go exploring. He mentally berated himself for his stupidity, and with a drop in his stomach, floated upwards right through the house, feeling horrible for not only spying, but getting caught as well.

As he phased through the roof of the house, he paused, catching the brief mention of his own name. _Wait, What?_ He phased back into the room, and heard a familiar voice speaking softly amidst the mostly dark room. It sounded like the person was talking to themselves, in muttering and incoherent rambling. Danny looked for the source of the voice and was surprised to see one of the twins he met from earlier today, ranting away.

"Danny… Who the heck is this guy anyway… Sweeping her off her feet. Because he can probably carry her… because he's tall… darnit. Why is he so normal? There's gotta be something wrong with that guy! I'm gonna find out what it is, no matter what Mabel says..."

He was suspicious of him? _For what!?_

For the fourth time tonight Danny's body tensed up and he felt like he was in huge trouble. Dipper had seemed like he didn't like Danny as soon as he met him and he was still confused as to why. He floated there, wracking his brain for his actions and words for the time they met, trying to pinpoint what could have tipped him off. Was it because he questioned Dipper's name?

Suddenly he heard a shuffling and a groan, and Danny looked over to see Mabel, Dipper's twin sister, wake up from her sleep. "Go to sleep, Dipper!" she whined, and slammed her face back into her pillow. _I'm with her on this one,_ Danny thought, and promptly phased out through the roof and away from the Mystery Shack.

"Man, people here are weird," he commented, glimpsing at the shack from afar. The thoughts went back to questioning why Dipper was suspicious of Danny in the first place. After all, he did nothing that could have possibly tipped Dipper off about Danny's powers during their short encounter. _It doesn't matter why he's suspicious, the only thing that matters is that he doesn't figure it out,_ he reasoned with himself.

"This vacation is seriously not a vacation. Not only do I have to actively hide myself from my parents, but apparently from crazy preteens too. Great," he said flatly, and cursed his luck as he sped back to his motel room, waiting for the lecture from Jazz he was about to get.

* * *

 **AHH. It's done. This was the longest chapter I've written so far, it's 5k words, and it was literally 11 pages on my word document. For me, that's a lot. Which brings me to a question for you guys. Would you guys rather I have shorter chapters that come quicker, or longer chapters like this where I'd take a little longer to write?**

 **I want to hear your opinions! Please review if you liked it, or have anything you want to say! I'm open to any criticism, and if there's any errors, please point them out!**

 **Until next time,**

 **-dannyghost :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**HELLO ALL I GIVE YOU THE LONG AWAITED 6TH CHAPTER OK BYE**

* * *

The next day was beginning to seem considerably better than the last. The stress that had kept Dipper up all night long about Danny joining them on their mystery hunt had slowly faded away, or, at least, was attempted to be forced away. And at this point in time, Dipper's main focus was trying to make sure that nothing went haywire during the trip, and that everything was going according to plan.

At the time, it was around late noon, nearing two o'clock– the same time that Wendy and Danny were supposed to arrive and join them. According to Wendy, Danny wasn't actually aware of what they were going to do, so she was supposed to fill him in on the details before they even arrived. Together. Just the fact that they were coming together irked Dipper.

He paced back and forth in the clearing in front of the Mystery Shack, rapidly clicking a pen as he waited for the rest of the group to arrive. "Ergh, what is taking them so long?" he asked aloud, looking back towards the tourist trap. Conveniently, the Shack's front door opened, but left him confused to find Soos walking out alone without Mabel trailing behind him.

"Hey Soos!" he acknowledged, and quickly stopped pacing, forcing himself to stand still. Once Soos had reached closer to where he was standing in the clearing, Dipper was not surprised to see a bag of half-eaten chips in the repairman's right hand.

"Oh, hey Dipper!" Soos greeted back with an excited wave. "Dude, you'll never guess what happened today. I found this taco on the floor outside the back alleyway of the arcade and it _totally_ spoke to me. Not in the literal sense though. That'd be pretty cool," he paused, mindlessly looking up at the sky, "But like, dude. It was like, calling out to me. No taco hard shell has ever had that effect on me before," he said wistfully, and Dipper could already guess what Soos was going to say next.

"I ate it," he deadpanned, then let out a small chuckle.

Dipper soon joined in on his friend's laughter, albeit beginning to revel in the fact of how unsanitary eating a taco on the ground from the back of the arcade might actually be. "Man, that's so gross," he cringed.

Soos grinned proudly. "Dude, I know." he said seriously, putting a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "And I'm not ashamed to say I enjoyed that dumpster taco, too."

"I…" Dipper began, making a face. "Yeah, I can't relate to that."

"It's okay dude. Your time will come," Soos comforted. Dipper frowned.

"Speaking of coming, where's Mabel?" he asked, now noticing that Soos had been carrying her backpack.

Soos shrugged, stuffing his hand into the bag of chips from the vending machine. "Oh, she's all packed but she said she wanted to apply her new glitter eyeliner that she bought yesterday… and dude," he began with a laugh, "I don't blame her, makeup takes skills, but she needs practice. She's erasing the evidence." he explained with a small laugh.

Dipper's shoulders slumped in frustration as he ran onto the front porch, wedging his head through the door. "MABEL!" He yelled, but was met with only a distant yell from upstairs. He huffed in response and ventured further into the shack, before again yelling: "You don't need glitter to walk in the woods, come on!"

"Yeah, listen to your brother!" Grunkle Stan added, from the living room. Although it was past noon, he was still in his pyjamas, as usual, and frankly, looked as if he had just woken up.

"Never!" she called back childishly, still from upstairs.

Dipper groaned. "Mabel, I'm serious!"

"Well, can't say I didn't try for ya," Stan sipped from a coffee mug absently, then suddenly wrinkled his nose in disgust and promptly took a spit take, spraying the floor. "Blargh, is this Mabel Juice?" he asked aloud, beginning to cough.

Dipper shuddered at the memory of Mabel's homemade juice. No juice should ever have glitter or plastic dinosaurs in it, let alone both. "Grunkle Stan, I think you picked up the wrong mug," he commented, gesturing to the mug of Mabel Juice in Stan's hand, and the fresh coffee sitting innocently on the table.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Stan responded, acting out a fake gagging noise for emphasis.

Skipping steps and bouncing her way down to the door, Mabel stuck out her tongue at her impatient brother. "Dipping sauce, you kept me up late last night with your crazy theories about tourist guy, so I _think_ you can wait a couple minutes for me to put on my special limited edition rainbow glitter eyeliner!" she chastised as they walked outside through the back porch.

"They're not crazy, they're valid scientific explanations!" Dipper exclaimed.

Mabel snorted with laughter. "You keep telling yourself that, bro-bro."

Stan followed lazily behind them with the now half empty mug of Mabel Juice in his hand, not walking out further than the porch. "Don't get eaten alive by bears!" He called out, plopping onto the worn out yellow couch. "Heh, that'd suck if they did."

The twins reached the clearing space in front of the Mystery Shack to find Soos, still there, except now without the bag of chips in his hand from before. "Hey dudes!" he called, and Mabel diverted her attention away from her brother to wave back at him.

"Soos!" she yelled, running excitedly towards him. Dipper followed suit, not wanting to be left behind against Mabel's quickened pace and soon they approached side by side.

"Hey girldude!" Soos greeted as he handed back her pink backpack. She happily began to root through it with a determined expression, but knowing Mabel, she was probably searching for her emergency glitter or her canteen of Mabel Juice.

The three began to walk towards the woods so they could wait for the rest to arrive there– Wendy would meet them there, just like last time when they were searching for the author. Except now, she wasn't coming alone. Dipper tried to not relent too much on this fact, and instead frowned at the things his sister pulled out from her backpack.

"Hey Mabel, why did you bring a leafblower?"

"Uhm, duh," she laughed, as if the answer was obvious. " _Gnomes?"_

"Good point." Dipper noted, but lifted a brow when Mabel pulled out her favourite tool. "The grappling hook, Mabel, really?"

"Just in case!" she announced. "You never know when we'll come across some creepy freaky thingy creature."

"Dude. That, is, so, true," Soos agreed wholeheartedly.

Dipper shrugged in agreement, stopping in his tracks. "Yeah, yeah, true, I guess. There are 'creepy freaky' creatures in these woods," he said with air quotations, "But I just wonder how Danny's gonna react to those things when him and Wendy get here."

* * *

"Are you going somewhere? Again?" Jazz asked, and Danny's head turned around in surprise to face his sister. She had actually tore her eyes away from her latest psychology book for once, long enough to see what he was doing, and of course, the first thing she was going to do was question his life choices like the overbearing sister she was.

Danny was beginning to feel like the longer he spent in the motel room with her, the more he was prone to being given a lecture. Or psychotherapy treatment. Or in the common case, both. So if he could leave at any chance he got– he'd take it. Even if he was in a weirdo town he had no idea about or where anything was.

He huffed hastily, and glanced back to the bag on his motel room bed. "Yeah, but it's not dangerous, so you don't need to worry this time," he answered passively, sneaking a Fenton Thermos into the bottom of his backpack. Just in case.

Jazz frowned. "And where exactly, are you going?"

"Well, when we were at the Mystery Shack yesterday, I met this girl, Wendy, who works there and we were talking and she said she'd tell me more about the town and its spooky stories or whatever, because even according to the locals, Gravity Falls is abnormal," Danny explained as he zipped his bag shut. "Like, Amity Park weird."

"And you believe that?" she pressed, crossing her arms.

"Yes! Okay, when we were in the RV, I _saw_ a gnome _move_ , Jazz," Danny replied. "Gnomes aren't supposed to move and walk and talk! That's not natural!" he exclaimed. "Unless it's like, oh, I don't know, a _ghost!_ There's something off about this town, I'm telling you."

"Ugh, this again." Jazz rolled her eyes, and stood up from her seat on the edge of her bed. "What happened to making this trip as relaxing as possible? I thought you said you wanted to get as far away from the supernatural as mom and dad can possibly allow." she reminded.

"I'm curious about this place!" Danny reasoned, hoisting his backpack onto one shoulder. "My ghost sense hasn't gone off once, and this place is supposed to be chalk full of weird stuff. I just wanna know how."

Jazz frowned. "But we don't know much about this town! What if a ghost shows up, and someone catches you using your powers or something, or–"

"They won't. Have you seen some of the people here in this town?" Danny asked, then thought back to the white haired hillbilly they saw yesterday, and the creepy faced journalist, and Lazy Susan, the waitress at the diner. All oblivious, much like the ones in Amity Park.

"Okay, yes, some of these people are oblivious, but you can't judge everything and everyone in the town by looking at only a few people and things," she began. "I mean, we've barely been to any places here, and we really don't know who could be dangerous!" she argued.

"Jazz, I fight ghosts every day, and you're telling me that some people in this town _might_ be dangerous?"

"I know you do, but here isn't there. You don't know what this town's like, Danny, you have to be careful when you do things!" she fought back.

"Blah, blabbity, blah blah, I need to make better life choices because I'm not as perfect as you," Danny mimicked while pulling a stupid expression, "Blah, blah, dangerous activities are bad, everything I do is wrong, blah… need I say more?"

"That's not what I was going to say!"

Danny began to slowly back out towards the door. "But you were thinking it," he remarked.

"I wasn't thinking that!" Jazz huffed in visible irritation.

"I beg to differ."

"Danny, will you just listen to me for once?" Jazz begged, attempting to cover his path by standing in the way.

"Oh, you mean like how you listened to me when I said that I know what I'm doing and when your help wasn't needed?" he retorted, sidestepping her.

Jazz glared. "Look, I'm just trying–"

"Bye, Jazz!" Danny called out happily, shutting the door, and clearly with intent on ignoring whatever it was she was going to say.

"...To look out for you." she finished, and sat back down on the edge of her bed with a sigh.

* * *

Although Danny had began to feel bad afterwards for arguing with Jazz back at the motel, he ultimately tried to shrug off his guilt that he knew was soon going to escalate. _She'll be fine,_ he thought halfheartedly, and tried to instead focus on where he was headed towards.

Looking down at his digital wristwatch, he cursed quickly under his breath, noting that he was already a few minutes late. He was supposed to meet Wendy at that totem pole at two o'clock, and judging by how far he was from their meeting place, he wasn't going to arrive any earlier than 2:15 by walking.

He huffed and attempted to quicken his pace, passing by Greasy's Diner and a few other shops in town before he came to a sudden halt.

"Wait… Duh, I can fly there," Danny mused aloud, smacking himself in the forehead for not realizing this sooner. If he flew, then he could get there in a quarter of the time that it would take him to walk! He hurriedly looked around his surroundings to check for any witnesses, and after noting that the coast was clear, ran into the nearest alleyway to go ghost.

A bright white light flashed from the opening of the alley, and on instinct he turned invisible as he flew out. No one in Gravity Falls needed to know about Danny Phantom, especially out in broad daylight.

He flew overhead the downtown area of the town and then swooped upwards, getting a bright view of the winding roads of the town. Making out what he presumed to be the Mystery Shack from afar, he began to head in the general direction of it, taking the route above the endless pine tree filled forest.

Once a vague path became noticeable, Danny floated down towards it, landing on the dry dirt ground. Once again, he looked around him before going visible and transforming back to human. Even though he was in the forest, he still couldn't take the chance of any curious eyes. _How hypocritical of me,_ he added wryly.

The bright flash died down and he slowly walked through the widening path before it gradually turned to a clearing surrounded by pine trees. Looking straight ahead, he found that he had already arrived at the entrance of the Mystery Shack.

"Huh, never noticed that it spelled out Mystery 'Hack'." Danny said aloud, looking over to the fallen 'S' letter on the roof of the cabin-like establishment. Then he wondered what could have possibly happened to knock off a letter. The Shack seemed to be well built, it couldn't possibly have just fallen off by itself naturally. It must have been knocked off by someone, either on purpose, or on accident.

He held a passive expression and glanced towards the recently beat-up totem pole out front, (courtesy of his dad's bad driving skills), and beamed when he saw Wendy already there, leaning against the pole. She was bouncing some sort of rock back and forth against the side wall of the Mystery Shack with a bored expression on her face, and frankly, looked as if she wouldn't be bothered if there was an apocalypse happening.

Danny made his way over to her and habitually checked his watch again. He wasn't more than ten minutes late. _Good thing this wasn't a formal occasion,_ he thought to himself.

Assuming that Wendy had heard his footsteps against the gravel, she looked up and grinned. "Dude, hey! You came!" she exclaimed, throwing the rock aside and opting to retract from her position against the totem pole, and held out a fist towards Danny.

"Hey," he greeted, returning Wendy's fist bump, "Well, I wasn't going to _not_ come," he began, as they collectively began to walk away from the totem pole and towards the Mystery Shack. "I mean… I don't really have anything better to do here really seeing as you're the only person from here that I know, and you don't seem to hate me, so… yeah," he shrugged off awkwardly.

Wendy chuckled then furrowed her brows in confusion. "Hate you? Who here hates you?"

"Well, I wouldn't say _hate_ …" Danny trailed off, thinking how to word his next statement. "But, one of the twins from yesterday, Dipper, yeah, he for sure doesn't like me."

"Dipper? What, why wouldn't he like you, man? You're totally cool– and he likes all my friends! Well, except for Robbie…"

"Robbie?" Danny prompted. Wendy had actually mentioned him once before, after they had met the twins, but he had no idea who she was talking about.

"Ugh, yeah. He's my ex," she rolled her eyes, and judging by the sound of her tone, Danny didn't really want to press more on the subject.

 _Well, that's understandable as to why Dipper doesn't like him,_ he thought to himself. Danny was beginning to piece together why Dipper actually didn't like him– and it wasn't the same reason as to why Dipper was somehow suspicious of him.

Dipper liked Wendy.

It was so obvious now, back to when he first met the kid. It must of been why Dipper was so bitter towards Danny just for standing next to Wendy– he must have thought Danny was trying to steal Wendy from him or something! The very thought of that made him laugh.

Of course he wasn't going to tell Wendy–for Dipper's sake– but heck, with how obvious it was, she probably already knew. But that was Dipper's business, and Danny didn't want to make him dislike him more than he already did.

"Well, I'm sure he has a good reason for not liking him," Danny said simply.

"Psh'yeah, I mean, Robbie did try to brainwash me into liking him again with some mind control disc track… Then we broke up. Dipper got pretty worked up about it. I cried for like, two days straight, man."

Danny frowned. "Wait, mind control? Brainwash? What?"

"Yeah, what a jerk, right? But it's whatever, I guess." Wendy brushed off, but Danny was still concerned of how lightly Wendy was taking in the subject of… her ex-boyfriend's attempts to brainwash her? Was this considered normal here?

"How did that even happen?" Danny asked curiously.

Wendy snorted. "Beats me. This town has some things in it that you just don't question, man."

"Like what?"

"Like, just the other week, the twins, Soos and I found this crazy cool bunker under the woods, and we literally came across a shape shifting creature down in the underground lab. That thing scarred me for life."

"Okay, the 'tourist' part of me is winning, I'm interested. Continue," Danny motioned.

She chuckled, and continued, "Well, it was an experiment by the author of the journal Dipper had discovered– the journal that has information on all the weird stuff in this town… werewolves, vampires, zombies, ghosts–" Danny's eyes widened at this one, "–monsters, demons, unicorns… like, everything," she threw her hands up in the air for emphasis.

"A journal?" Danny questioned. "How'd he get that?"

"Oh, well, from what I know, he found it in the woods on his first week here, and he's been completely into the supernatural stuff ever since," she shrugged.

"Wow. That explains a lot," Danny noted in a low voice, aimed more towards himself rather than Wendy. That must have been what Dipper was going on about last night, why he was saying that there must be something wrong with Danny. He was already suspecting him of being not entirely human, and he's only met the kid for a few minutes! Granted, he was in fact not entirely human, so Dipper was actually right, but still.

Wendy frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Nothing," he coughed. "So, the shape shifter?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, it shapeshifted to look like me and then I literally had to wrestle other me, which was _really_ weird, and then Dipper had to find out which one was the real me–which he did–and stabbed it with my axe," she explained, making a stabbing gesture with her hands.

Danny's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Wendy nodded, "Believe me, man, never will I get the image of green liquid pouring from other me's stomach. Like, can you imagine green liquid oozing from your duplicate?"

"Vividly," Danny answered, thinking back to his prototype clone melting before him, during the whole Dani and Vlad skirmish. Upon receiving a weird look from Wendy, he added hastily, "I mean, I can imagine it. Vividly."

"Gotcha," Wendy replied, seeming to buy his excuse. Danny, however, smiled uneasily.

All of what she was saying was absurd, but to be fair, he fought ghosts everyday, so he couldn't be a skeptic. But he still wanted some more proof. He raised a brow. "So…have you ever came across a… oh, I don't know, ghost?"

Wendy's face crossed with recognition. "Dude, yes. And it was freaky. I think that was actually more scarring than seeing the shape shifter's true form. Ghosts are a force not to be reckoned with, and never am I going back to that haunted convenience store. My friends and I barely escaped with our lives if it wasn't for Dipper," she explained, but then suddenly frowned. "Why ghosts?"

 _Crud,_ Danny thought, and smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Better he reveal the tidbit about his parent's ghost hunting obsession that his own secret. "Well…" he began sheepishly, "You know how you wanted to know yesterday about my parents? Why they were acting like they were?"

Wendy perked up. "Yeah?"

"...They're ghost hunters. Inventors, scientists, whatever you wanna call it… they study ghosts, obsessively," he sighed, "So my life kind of revolves around ghosts." He finished, albeit deliberately leaving out the bigger fact that his life mainly revolved around ghosts because he was a ghost. Wendy didn't need to know that last part.

She whistled. "Man, that's tough. And I thought my dad was weird. He sings along to _Sev'ral Timez_ as he cuts down trees, but your parents, oh man. Now I get why you didn't wanna tell me before."

"Yeah… It's something alright. But I've seen ghosts, too. They're everywhere where I'm from. Amity Park seems to be most of the ghosts' favourite town to haunt and terrorize."

"Huh. I was wondering how you were taking the shape shifter thing so well, but that pretty much explains it. You ever fought a ghost?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah–" Danny began, but cut himself short before he stupidly revealed his secret. He laughed awkwardly to cover up his mistake. "I mean, yeah, with my parents' weapons. Y'know. Ecto-guns and all. Can't fight a ghost without weapons!" He tried with forced enthusiasm.

"You're a bit weird, you know." Wendy commented, before adding, "But that's okay. Weird is cool," she declared, lightly punching him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, I guess," Danny laughed. "So, what's the plan?"

Wendy's eyes lit up. "Ohmygosh, thanks for reminding me!" she exclaimed. "Okay, don't hate me, but yesterday I kinda forgot that I made plans with you and said yes to coming with Dipper and the gang on another mystery hunt," she began, " _BUT,_ Dipper said that you could come too!"

Danny blinked. "Wait… Dipper actually agreed to me coming?"

"Yeah, man!"

"Wow, didn't think he'd want me to come with you guys," he commented in shock, but shrugged off his doubts. He had only met Dipper for a few minutes yesterday, after all. Granted, he didn't know Wendy all that well either. "When is this happening?" he questioned apprehensively.

Wendy checked the time on her phone and made a 'hand stuck in the cookie jar' facial expression, looking back up at him. "Maybe like… give or take ten minutes ago?"

Danny's eyes widened. "So we're like, super late? And you really just remembered to mention this now?"

"A hundred percent really," Wendy said seriously, "Dude, if we leave now we'll be less late. Come on, I know a shortcut!"

"Then lead the way!" he motioned.

* * *

"...And that's how you make Mabel Juice!" Mabel finished proudly, after explaining in excruciating detail on how to recreate her _special_ recipe for the over-caffeinated drink. She held a sample of the drink in her hand, as it was, of course, one of the many things she had packed.

The three were sat in a large open clearing on the edge of the forest, not too far from the Mystery Shack. They were waiting for Wendy (and Danny) to arrive, and it had been nearly ten minutes. Soos was sat on a log, while Dipper was leaning up against a tree, and Mabel had opted to stand in the center of the clearing in order to explain her Mabel Juice recipe.

"Dude, I'd pay you to explain that whole thing to me again," Soos commented in awe. "My eyes have been opened."

"Please, no, none of that, no one needs to hear that again," Dipper interrupted quickly before Mabel could respond. Unfortunately, that didn't stop her.

She beamed with excitement, ignoring Dipper's protests. "How much are we talking?" she drawled.

"Do you do instructional videos?" Soos asked, putting a finger up to his chin in deep thought.

"That can be arranged!" Mabel grinned.

"Yes!" Soos cheered, throwing a fist up in the air. He would happily buy a video of Mabel re-explaining on how to make her acclaimed juice.

Dipper however, groaned in displeasure. "Mabel Juice is the drink of my worst nightmares." he recalled, thinking back to the time where Mabel had made both him and Stan taste test one of her most recent batches. This version included the glitter, plastic dinosaurs, and scented confetti in the pink liquid. After that, he was coughing out sparkles for a week.

"One man's nightmare is another man's dream!" she responded happily, waving her long sweater sleeves around in the air to the annoyance of her twin.

He frowned. "Not really, no, that drink is..." he began, but stopped himself short upon hearing the sound Wendy's voice through the forest.

"Amazing? Spectacular? _Sensational?_ " Mabel supplied.

"No, shh," he hushed, and tried to listen for bits and pieces of a conversation, catching the end of something Wendy was saying.

"...Yeah, man, they're great. They'll totally like you."

"...You sure? I mean, you do remember my first encounter with them right? I think I might have died from the awkwardness."

His stomach dropped as he heard the second voice. _Danny._ The _guy_. He heard Wendy laugh and a few more words exchanged between the two before the shuffling became louder and clearer. Although Dipper knew that Danny was coming on this trip, he couldn't help but feel disappointment beginning to wash over. He quickly recovered and got up from the tree, to see that Mabel and Soos were now aware as well that they had received company.

Wendy and Danny walked out from the forest path and into the clearing. "Oh there you guys are, hey!" Wendy greeted, waving happily towards them.

"Hey Wendy!" Dipper and Mabel voiced simultaneously, both without a glance at one another.

Soos half raised his arm. "Sup?"

Mabel then turned to face Danny and her eyes lit up, letting out an excited gasp. "And you brought Danny too! Hi! I'm Mabel, if you didn't remember," she gushed.

Danny waved awkwardly in response. "Hey, yeah, I remember you. You said you liked uh, glitter and kittens, right?" he guessed.

Mabel let out a small squee sounding noise next to Dipper. " _He remembered!"_ she whispered/hissed into his ear and grabbed a hold onto Dipper's arm for dear life. Danny stared incredulously at the excitable preteen's antics as her brother tried to shoo her off his arm.

"She's… she's had a lot of juice today," Dipper explained reluctantly.

Danny frowned, still not taking his eyes off Mabel. "What kind of juice?" he asked curiously.

Dipper looked back at his bouncing sister. "You don't wanna know."

"I'll take that as a 'don't ask'." Danny replied, glancing towards Mabel's ecstatic state as well. In this short moment, Danny and Dipper held a mutual truce.

"Oh, by the way, I'm sorry if it was surprising that it became a group thing, it just totally slipped my mind that I already agreed to meet you when I said yes to come on this trip, but I guess it worked out." Wendy said suddenly, guilt crossing her features.

The mutual truce vanished at Wendy's words, reminding Dipper of reasons why he began to dislike Danny in the first place. "Oh, it's no problem, really," he assured, through gritted teeth.

Danny seemed not to notice Dipper's seething, and if he did, he hid it well. "Well, I didn't think this was going to be a trip, but Mabel and Dipper have backpacks with them so I'm just wondering where exactly we're headed," he said coolly.

"Dude, you have no idea what to expect because you're new, but trust us, it's gonna get weird." Soos exclaimed excitedly. "We're going deeper into the forest though. No surprise there."

"You guys know your way around the forest?" Danny questioned, looking at his surroundings. Endless pine trees.

"Relax, we've gone through the forest tons of times. It's not that dangerous," Dipper paused on the last word, reminded of all the monsters he encountered among the tall trees. "–if you know who and what to avoid," he then added as an afterthought.

Danny raised an eyebrow. If Dipper was trying to scare him, it evidently did not work. Then again, if he was trying to impress him, well, coming across monsters and living to tell the tale, and being only a human, too, was impressive. And he was what, like, twelve? So all in all, it worked.

His own experiences with the supernatural made Danny wary of the dangers ahead, but Dipper seemed confident in his ability to deal with it, and looking over at Mabel, he could tell through the skip in her steps that she wasn't worried about certain death. Either that, or she was incredibly naive.

"Don't worry Danny, I came prepared to fight." Mabel rummaged through her bag excitedly. " _WITH MY GRAPPLING HOOK!"_ she exclaimed, holding it out in the air.

"Wait, grappling hook, what?" Danny's face twisted in slight worry and utter confusion.

Soos let out a small, innocent chuckle. "Don't worry dude," he grinned. "You get used to it."

"Great." Danny drawled sarcastically, "What's next, a leafblower?"

Mabel beamed with joy. "Actually…"

* * *

 **AHHHHHH**

 **I FINALLY POSTED**

 **Okay, so first off I want to apologize for not updating in over two months. I'm so so so sorry that it hasn't come sooner and that I made you all wait for so long, and in the time that I was gone I know that so much has happened, but now I'm back and I'm so relieved that I was finally able to post chapter 6.**

 **This chapter was actually supposed to be longer and would include the entire forest scene, but it ended up being TOO long so I cut it in half. Luckily, that means chapter 7 is nearly finished in the process of writing and it will come much sooner.**

 **Lastly, I also want to give a big thank you to SkriboRakontojnFarasEb** **la and IceTaloned Frayfu for leaving reviews, I really enjoyed reading them! To answer your question about the mirror,** **SkriboRakontojnFarasEb** **la, yes it was kind of like a magic mirror (or, one of the unexplained anomalies within the Mystery Shack), and Stan was able to see Danny in it when he was intangible because of that. It will be of more significance later on in the story, heh. Guess you'll have to wait to find out more about that.**

 **Until next time I upload, (which is hopefully SOON),**

 **\- dannyghost :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! I have to apologize again for the century long wait! But I have finally returned, and with this beast of a chapter!**

 **A big thank you to all those who reviewed last chapter:** **FariyFlare,** **Nico,** **Strawberry,** **bruno14,** **The Samurai Prince,** **lupsss1412,** **EmPro8,** **HateIsRealAndItIsMe,** **AlecGateway,** **Gold1992!**

 **WITHOUT FURTHER ADO HERE IT IS**

* * *

Chapter 7

Soon after the group had passed into the boundaries of the forest, Wendy had caught a glimpse of Danny's seemingly off-put expression. He seemed to be in some kind of skeptic induced paranoia from the looks of it, and it was getting worrisome for the redhead as they continued their hike through the Gravity Falls forest.

"Dude, you look worried." she observed, turning to sneak another glance at him. "What's up?"

Danny eyed each tree as the group walked forward, searching for some indication that there were some kind of supernatural creatures in the forest. "I'm not worried exactly, but I still have no clue what we're looking for," he responded honestly, turning his head to face her.

"That's what makes it fun, man!" Wendy tried, but upon seeing Danny's paranoid expression, her shoulders sagged in defeat. "Okay, you got me. I have no idea what we're looking for either," she admitted. "Guys?"

Soos looked towards the teens in interest. "Dipper, tell them about our mighty quest dawg," he suggested, gesturing to open up the conversation to the rest of the group.

"Yeah!" Mabel cheered, raising an unnecessary fist into the air.

" _Tell them, tell them, tell them!"_ Soos and Mabel chanted simultaneously, now both raising their fists in the air.

Dipper looked up at Soos and Mabel with a grimace. He really didn't want to share their 'mighty quest' with the likes of Danny– he was, after all, only invited last minute, and his presence was beginning to get more unnerving as time went by. Within the short time that they had began their trip, Dipper had began to overthink things in his mind obsessively as usual, all the while unknowingly staring at the black-haired teen.

 _There has to be something wrong with this guy, there has to,_ Dipper's mind screamed. _Or maybe he is just an innocent tourist who happens to be walking right next to the love of my life and oh god they're laughing with each other and talking and why are they walking so close stop staring at him YOU'RE STARING YOU MANIAC STOP STARING HE'S GONNA SEE YOU_ –

Dipper blinked, shaking himself out of his stupor. He frowned, trying to mask his discomfort, and then turned towards Soos and his sister. _Say something,_ his brained nagged.

"It's supposed to be a surprise though," he ended up saying lamely, and mentally smacked himself in the face for his poor excuse.

Soos made a face of disappointment in response, while Mabel stuck her tongue out at Dipper. Her twin did the same, and soon they were silently bickering amongst themselves.

"Alright, well, if you won't tell me what we're looking for, then at least tell me what we're avoiding," Danny replied levelly, cautiously stepping over a thick branch and subsequently snapping a twig right in front of it. It was the seventh twig he had broken in the last few minutes, and other than the sounds of the group's conversation, he swore that he was hearing strange sounds and hushed whispers from the trees. _Huh,_ Danny thought, _maybe Jazz was right. You're losing it._

"Strange dudes in trench coats?" Wendy joked, making everyone laugh. "But seriously though, there _is_ some creepy junk in these woods," she warned, "But that's why I carry around this."

Danny watched with mixed horror and awe as Wendy pulled out an axe from her belt, brandishing it in front of her and twirling it around effortlessly. "You know, I was wondering why you had an axe attached to your belt," he commented, to which Wendy grinned at.

"Dudes, we got shovels and baseball bats in our bags too," Soos added, pointing to his very much stuffed bag with said weapons sticking out from the side pockets. "Just in case."

The raven haired teen raised his eyebrows. These people were really prepared. "Anything else I should be aware about?" he asked incredulously.

Mabel gave Danny a thoughtful look, then her eyes brightened. "You should watch out for gnomes!" she offered.

Dipper snorted from beside her. "Yeah, no kidding. They're the pests of the forest," he added, looking at their surroundings to make sure. "And they bite pretty hard too."

Danny stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed. "That... makes sense." He muttered before jogging to catch up with the group. Gnomes seemed easy to deal with, at least. He looked around the bases of the trees in hopes to find traces of said creatures, but to no avail. He looked towards the others. "So, other than gnomes, is there anything worse I should be looking out for?"

"Dipper once caught a Gremloblin in this forest," Mabel supplied, glancing at her brother. He rubbed his arm in the remembrance of when he suffered from many bites and scratches from the nightmare of a beast and grimaced. That was a wild day.

"Gremloblin? What?" Danny questioned with a laugh. "Heh, what even is that supposed to be? Like a gremlin-goblin hybrid or something?" he joked.

Mabel grinned brightly, pointing a finger gun at Danny in reply. "Exactly that!" she clarified, leaving the teen gobsmacked.

Danny blinked. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Yup!" Mabel said again, then frowned. "He used up all my stickers too…"

"Is she serious?" Danny asked, looking to the others for confirmation. He was met with simultaneous mumbles of agreements. Now he really wanted proof of all these monsters. He could accept it if this monster was a ghost, but alive? As much as he knew that something was definitely up with this town, it was beginning to seem a little far-fetched. And that was coming from a half-ghost.

"Jeez, I bet we oughta avoid the sascrotch too, right?" he asked, half joking. He wanted to see it to believe it, and about now, he wasn't sure if he could believe it.

"Actually, the Sascrotch is fake," Dipper corrected with a frown. "But the Gremloblin is definitely real."

"Oh, the Gremloblin," Wendy said aloud, remembering back to the time when Mabel had taken Stan's job as boss for three days, and caused the Mystery Shack to get destroyed and fixed within a few hour's time span. "That day was… eventful. I had to work so much, Mabel," she complained. Mabel smiled innocently in response.

"Heh, you can say that again," Soos replied with a monosyllable chuckle. Wendy groaned in annoyance of the memory, and soon the two began to aimlessly bicker in their own conversation about their workloads at the Mystery Shack.

Danny paused to glance at Dipper. "I guess I'll take your word for it," he shrugged. Considering _he_ wasn't exactly _human_ , he should at least be at least giving these guys the benefit of the doubt _._

Dipper's eyes bore holes through the back of Danny's head as soon as the teen turned around away from him. He was searching for any evidence that Danny was fitting any kind of suspicious he had about him, and him seeming comfortable with the idea of monster hunting wasn't exactly considered 'normal'– especially coming from a so called _tourist_.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek before he spoke. "You know, you seem pretty okay with the idea of going into a forest to look for strange creatures," he began, trying to come across as casual as possible as he chose his words carefully. "Other people tend to _avoid_ monsters."

"Comes with the experience, I guess." Danny shrugged casually in reply. He knew for a fact that Dipper was trying to get a rise out of him by provoking him, and it wasn't working one bit. But he had to hand it to the kid though– he was persistent. Then again, of course Danny wasn't going to give anything away that would reveal his secret identity. Dipper was too suspicious for who knows why, seeing as he had nothing remotely to even provide a reason for suspicion, and it was time to throw the kid off track.

"What experience?" Dipper pressed, making a face that was unreadable to Danny.

"I told Wendy earlier before we came," Danny began, glancing at the redhead for confirmation, "My parents are paranormal scientists, er, ghost hunters. Weird is the standard in my house."

Dipper exhaled in disappointment. _Of_ _course_ there was a perfectly logical explanation.

"Though I guess that would extend to my entire city– ghost attacks are an almost daily thing," he paused, then let out a goofy grin. "You could say that Amity Park is a real _ghost-town,"_ he joked, getting a snort of laughter from Wendy.

Dipper visibly twitched.

"So you hunt ghosts?" Mabel questioned curiously, obliviously disregarding her twin's mental state.

"Well, kinda. I mean, my parents do…" he began, "Well, they _try_ to," he muttered under his breath, "But there are others who take care of it."

"Others?" she asked again.

"Yeah," Danny responded wryly, regretting having mentioned that last part. _Others who take care of it, meaning Danny Phantom. They didn't need to know that part._ "So, uh, where are we looking, again? I feel lost in this forest," he said quickly, trying his best at changing the subject.

The more they talked about ghosts, the deeper he felt he was going to dig himself into his own grave. Then again, he was already halfway there.

Dipper noticed Danny's uneasiness around the subject and decided to leave it alone for now. It was better he pile whatever dirt he had on the teen rather than hound him every chance he got. "Just up ahead. I remember seeing the creature we're looking for in…" he trailed off, glancing around them before speaking again, "This part of the woods. Near the river."

Soos made a noise, the noise familiar to the other Mystery Shack employees. "Good, dude, cause I'm getting hungry," he reminded, the sound of his stomach growling accompanying his complaint. "It's been, like, twenty minutes, and dude, I've ran out of snacks already. Even my extra stash is gone."

"Oh, what I would do for a Pitt Cola right now," Wendy sighed, looking up to sky as if she actually had hope that the soda would fall from it and magically appear in her hands. It didn't.

"I have Mabel Juice," Mabel offered brightly, pulling out a bottle filled with pink liquid from seemingly nowhere.

Dipper shot his twin a glare. "Mabel, _no one_ wants Mabel Juice." he deadpanned, wanting to hurl at the thought of it. That drink was the last thing going through his mind, of all things.

"Pshh. _Everyone_ wants Mabel Juice!" she insisted.

Murmurs of disagreement from the others in the group proved otherwise, only furthering Dipper's point. Mabel pouted.

Sooner or later, not much time had passed since they entered the part of the woods where Dipper's claims of Plaidypus was supposed to be, and in that time frame, not much had occurred either other than the occasional conversation. The only thing that had changed was the temperature, which was slowly dropping as they ventured further and further away from their starting point.

The growing wind through the air wasn't that noticeable at first, but gradually it heightened with every passing moment. The scent of pine soon became more prominent, and it wasn't long before the group had to acknowledge the coming chill that was passing through them. The leaves rustled aimlessly, accompanied only by the odd sound of occasional bird calls, and sometimes, sounds from creatures that no one in the group was sure about. To say the least, it was getting chilly.

Minutes passed.

 _Okay, so it wasn't a good idea to head into the woods without a sweater,_ Dipper thought, and was seriously regretting bringing no more than just his t-shirt and vest. But to be fair, it was pretty sunny out in the late afternoon when they had began their trip, and if anything, it was hot outside just not too long ago.

 _How in the world had the temperature dropped so fast?_ He mentally complained to himself as he receded to the center of the group to try and guard himself from the blowing winds.

Mabel had her sweater, Soos was… Soos, and Wendy had her long sleeve plaid shirt. But as he observed the others, Danny caught Dipper's attention yet once again, walking only a few steps in front of him. He was just wearing a t-shirt. The least warmth out of everyone, and not even a shiver or complaint came from the teen. _How was he not–_

Suddenly, Dipper lost track of his footing and quickly felt himself about to be violently introduced to the ground… if not for accidentally tripping and landing on something. Or rather, someone.

"– _COLD!"_ Dipper finished his thought out loud at the shock of how cold Danny's skin was. He let out another startled cry of pain as the impact of landing onto Danny made him move erratically even more, this time making him actually hit the ground. Hard. For some reason, Dipper preferred the ground.

"I give it a ten out of ten!" Mabel clapped. "Extra points for tripping twice, bro-bro!" she chirped happily, but did nothing to physically help her twin off the ground. Dipper groaned in both annoyance and pain.

"You okay?" Danny cocked an eyebrow in both hidden amusement and slight concern. Dipper stared back, horrified, before ungracefully picking himself and dusting himself off.

"Pfft. Wh-why wouldn't I be?" Dipper spluttered, then cringed at the words coming out of his own mouth. "I-I'm perfectly fine… ow. I'm… ow...kay…" he tried as he looked over at his scraped arm. Wincing, he looked back at the others who had stopped walking to see if he was okay. _Don't be a dork,_ he mind screamed. "I'm good. Eeeeyeah."

Danny squinted his eyes in confusion for a moment before chuckling quietly to himself. "Whatever you say, Dipper."

Dipper huffed. For some reason, just having Danny saying his name bothered him. It was almost like everything that Danny did bothered him. Actually, it did. He was beginning to feel like Danny was Robbie 2.0, and was unconsciously starting to find everything and anything wrong with Danny. Dipper wasn't an angry or resentful person, but he did get jealous easily, no matter how hard he tried to deny it. And currently, while Danny was getting closer to Wendy in the span of the two days he's been here, Dipper was still struggling to have a normal conversation with Wendy after knowing her for much longer. She was just too perfect, she–

"Hey, man, so, this thing's supposed to be around here, right?" The sound of Wendy's angelic voice broke his train of thought. To make things worse, or, better, she had put a hand on his shoulder as she said this.

Dipper tried not to internally scream as she made contact, but of course, instead he began to choke, covering it up with an awkward and very fake cough. "...Y-yeah! It should be around here." He stumbled, before declaring: "We should split up and search the area."

"Sweet," Wendy responded, and hopped down a series of large rocks leading towards the river. _Everything she did was amazing._ The others followed suit and presumably wandered off to different directions, himself included.

Dipper took this time to get some air alone to himself, and began to walk further away from the others. Once he felt that the others weren't close by anymore, he let out a deep sigh. "Man, what's wrong with me? I'm acting like such a dork, and worse, I feel like I'm being a jerk for no reason," he said aloud, beginning to berate himself. At least no one was here to hear him.

He looked up to the direction of the sky, covered in trees. "Maybe I should just s–"

"SHMEBULOCK!"

"AHH!" Dipper screamed loudly, eyes widening in shock before instinctively kicking the gnome far away into the opposite direction of where he stood. The insufferable creature let out a high pitched whine as he sailed away to who knows where in the forest. Dipper breathed a deep breath of air, still getting over the fact that he had been scared by something as harmless as a gnome.

"Just a gnome," he mumbled to himself. Where was the boy who could defeat dream demons, shape-shifters, ghosts, zombies, and other horrible monsters?

Certainly not the one jumping out of his skin from something as pesky as a gnome.

* * *

Mabel aimlessly looked around her surroundings with an unusual frown etched onto her usual happy expression. Kicking at a branch at her feet, she watched as it rolled into the slightly damp mud ahead of her. Being near the river, her shoes being muddy from the wet ground was already a given. But that wasn't the thing that was bothering her.

Soos trailed along beside her, making a messy trail of snapped twigs behind them. Each twig he snapped, he made a small grunting noise to accompany it. "Dude, what's with Dip-dawg? He's being so weird around Danny." he asked, breaking the silence (if you didn't count the twig snapping), and subsequently, speaking Mabel's thoughts aloud for her.

So she wasn't the only one who noticed!

Mabel frowned, then her face brightened. "I'll talk to him about it when I get the chance. Maybe some stickers will help! He always laughs when I stick them on his face," she suggested with a lopsided grin.

Soos laughed in reply, and then snapped another twig before laying it on the ground. Mabel skipped the rest of the way back to the meeting spot.

A few moments later, Danny called out to the rest of the group. "Hey guys, is uh, this it!?" he yelled, sounding slightly grossed out. "It's this... deformed duck," he paused, "Looks like something from the Mystery Shack. It's anatomy is um, really something!"

Mabel and Soos followed his voice and reached him in a matter of less than a minute. Wendy followed shortly after, presuming that she had still been near the rocks close by to the river where he found it. Dipper reached the group last, with an unreadable expression on his face, prompting Mabel to debate whether he had had another one of his self loathing epiphanies again or if he had come across a gnome or something. _Nah,_ her brain decided.

Danny had been near the river, of course, being where he had found the alleged deformed duck. He was crouched down on his knees staring at the duck, willing himself to make eye contact with it. This was pretty difficult, considering that the duck actually had no face where a face should be. Instead, it's face was placed on its stomach. The group looked on in both horror and amusement, as the five of them stared at the creature before them.

Mabel was the first to speak. "What _is_ this thing?"

"Dude, this is like, gross, on so many levels. And I've seen some pretty gross stuff," Soos added.

"I swear I've seen this duck before in the journal…" Dipper trailed off as he quickly pulled out the Journal from his vest. He flipped sparingly through the pages before landing on the right page, and his eyes flickered in recognition. "Oh, here it is! It's the Stomach-faced Duck, and apparently if you look into its mouth, you can see… all of its… vital organs… oh gosh that's gross," he cringed.

The creature in question suddenly led out a loud, peculiar quack in response, making Dipper jump in surprise with a yelp.

Danny's eyes widened as he leaned in to examine the inside of the duck's mouth. "Oh, check it out! You can see all the innards and body parts of the lil' guy in here!" Danny exclaimed.

"Seriously? That's so cool man, I gotta see that!" Wendy said excitedly as she bent down to look at the duck next to Danny.

"Dudes, I dare you to look inside it. It'll totally scar you for life." Soos suggested to the twins as he grabbed a stick from near the stream and resulted to poking the duck's faceless head. It quacked again and in the process, opened its mouth wide and clear for everyone to see its disturbing duck innards from its stomach.

Mabel and Dipper walked slowly to the front of the duck, and inched their head a little lower to look inside. Yep, those were indeed the organs of the duck. A fine display of peristalsis in vivo.

"It's… kinda cute!" Mabel tried, but her expression betrayed her words as she looked at the duck from a closer angle, above where Wendy and Danny were crouched down.

"Mabel, anything that has a mouth where their stomach should be isn't cute," Dipper deadpanned, much to his sister's chagrin.

"Pshh, come on! It's… unique!" she defended as she got closer to the duck. Immediately, she regretted her choice of words when she had decided to take a closer look upon the deformed creature. Intestines. Liver. Kidneys. Lungs. Bones. Veins. Blood. A pumping, live heart. _How was this even biologically possible?!_

"Okay, I take it back, I take it back!" Mabel retracted hastily with a horrified expression, taking large steps backwards to the amusement of the others.

"Heh, I'm so showing this to Sam and Tucker," Danny commented to himself as he flipped open his phone to take a photo of the duck. "Weirdest biology I've seen alive."

" _Alive?"_ Dipper muttered, but was met with no reply.

Wendy was in awe of the creature. "So. Cool," she uttered, before looking up at her co-worker expectantly. "Soos, Soos, you _gotta_ take a photo of me and the Tummy-Duck." Wendy begged, already taking out her cell phone and placing it in Soos's hands. He gave the stick he had been holding before to Mabel, who in turn gave the stick to Dipper. Dipper sighed.

Soon tapped a button on the keypad. "Oh sure, dude. Ready?"

With a nod, Wendy squatted low next to the duck, and threw up a gang sign for extra effect. The duck quacked as the camera shutter went off.

She got up from the ground and upon taking her phone back, examined the photo with an ear-splitting grin. "New profile picture for like, _everything_. You rock, man."

Soos shrugged, taking his stick back from Dipper. "No problemo, dawg."

"Even though it's mouth is terrifying, I kind of want to pet it," Mabel said bluntly, inching closer to the creature after Wendy had walked further to check out to photo on her phone.

Dipper's eyes widened as he lunged in front of her. "Mabel, don't, what if it bites you?"

Mabel snorted. "Psh, it's not going to bite me, Dipper, I'm great with animals!"

At her words, her fingers outstretched to land on the top of the deformed creature before her hand was smacked away by Dipper. The duck's stomach for a face looked up at the hasty motion and bared its tiny teeth before chomping on the closest hand.

Dipper yelped in pain, before letting his arm reflexively fly up in the air, flailing it around it all directions. Unfortunately for him, the Stomach-faced Duck was still latched onto his hand, teeth sunk into his flesh, resulting in Dipper lifting the duck from the ground as he ungracefully ran around in circles trying to get it off.

Danny stared at the scene before him before springing into action to help Dipper. He grabbed a hold of the deformed duck from its wings, and yanked it away from the preteen's hand. The duck let out a squawk and ruffled its feathers, making spazzed out movements. He could have swore he saw some intestines fall from its mouth, but he had to remind himself that he's seen worse. _Worse than a duck with a face on its stomach._

Dipper wheezed, letting his hands rest on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. "...Thanks." he muttered reluctantly towards Danny. The teen gave a half smile in response.

Wendy blinked after the whole ordeal and turned to Dipper. "You okay man?"

He cringed. "I'm good." he croaked out, wringing his hand at the seething pain.

"Your bleeding hand doesn't look like it's agreeing with that, dude," Soos commented, and Dipper looked down to his indeed bleeding hand.

 _Great. So far I've tripped twice, been scared by a gnome, and bitten by a duck,_ Dipper thought remorsefully.

"Luckily, I came prepared!" Mabel butted in, lifting out a small first aid kit from her backpack and taking out a roll of bandages.

Dipper groaned. "This is your fault in the first place," he mumbled. Mabel simply blew a raspberry at that and began to wrap his arm up in a bandage, albeit not necessarily doing a great job at it.

Dipper raised a brow at her questionable first aid skills. "Are you sure you're doing this right?"

"Bro-bro, trust the expert here," Mabel hushed, then after a beat, added: "Do you want it to be bedazzled too? I brought my–"

"No," Dipper deadpanned.

Danny looked away from the tree he had seemed to be staring at, and stood up from the rock he was sitting on. "So, are we heading home?" He asked hesitantly.

Dipper shook his head. "Actually, this wasn't the creature we were looking for. I thought it would be near the river, but... I don't see it," he mumbled as Mabel finished bandaging his arm. It had looked like a preschooler had done it, but it had to do for now. He could fix it later when she wasn't looking.

"So we didn't just come out here for the duck? There's more?" Soos asked, ushering the duck away with the stick. It attempted to bite the stick, and he ended up surrendering his stick to the deformed duck as it hobbled away.

"Yeah, it wasn't supposed to be this gross duck, it was supposed to be something else," Dipper responded, watching the creature in question with narrowed eyes.

"What? Wait really? Dude quit holding out on us tell us what to look for!" Wendy exclaimed while flailing her arms around.

Dipper swallowed nervously, and then whatever came next, he felt almost like he wasn't controlling his own mouth. "W-well, there was another creature that wasn't totally gross like the duck with the stomach for a face, but this creature wears plaid, like you!" he babbled, but his eyes only slowly began to widen at the realization of his own words.

She blinked twice. "...Thanks?"

Dipper quickly realized his mistake in his words. "I-I mean… y-you're not a creature! Haha! I didn't say that!" he backtracked while wanting the world to swallow him whole. Now Wendy was going to hate him for him accidentally calling her a creature and she would never want to speak to him again and he would live miserable for the rest of eternity and–

"I got that, man," Wendy laughed, suddenly interrupting his thoughts. Dipper let out a breath of relief. If she hadn't said that, he thought his insides might explode.

"So like, a flannel fish?" Danny asked curiously.

"Well, it's actually–"

"A plaid platypus." Mabel and Soos interrupted simultaneously. Of course they had known what they were looking for prior to the trip, and Dipper had silently been thanking them for not ruining the surprise. Until now.

Dipper sighed in defeat. "A _plaid_ ypus."

"Seriously? That's wicked cool, man!" Wendy replied, slapping a hand onto Dipper's shoulder. He stared up at her in shock, before gulping and nodding with a plastered grin. He had felt almost temporarily in heaven until she had taken her hand off his shoulder.

It apparently took a few seconds for this to register in Danny's mind, or maybe something else was on his mind, or at least that's what Dipper thought, before the teen suddenly blinked twice, then burst out laughing as if someone had just told him the world's greatest joke. " _Plaidypus!"_ Through his loud laughter and wheezing, he managed to splutter out, "That's hilarious! I don't wanna miss seeing _that!_ " he exclaimed.

"Well what are we waiting for then?" Mabel pressed. "Let's go find ourselves a strangely red patterned mammal!" she declared, accompanied by a holler from Soos.

"I'm all for it, man!" Wendy agreed, making Dipper blush.

Mabel beamed. "Let's use the buddy system then!"

"I'm cool with that. Wen-dawg?" Soos asked.

"Yeah, alright man, let's go this way," she motioned, heading back towards the rocks by the scenic river, hopping atop the large rocks, one by one. Soos followed shortly after, and soon they were out of sight. Danny looked captivated by something once more, but when Dipper looked at Danny's line of view, all he saw was a tree. _What?_

Dipper shrugged. "Well–"

"Uhm… I'm good solo, so, just, shout if you need me!" Danny interrupted hastily, and before Dipper or Mabel could cast second a glance, he was hopping through the chaotic tree roots, his black hair soon blending in with the trees.

Dipper cocked an eyebrow as he disappeared into the dense forest. Strange.

* * *

Now that an opportunity had presented itself, Dipper walked to Mabel's side as they examined the river for any traces of the plaidypus. She knew she was in for another earful of her brother's jealousy. _Best not to fight it. It's gonna come out one way or another,_ she thought to herself.

"So…" she began slowly, trying to carefully choose her next words. "Danny's turned out to be a really cool guy."

Dipper squeezed the palm of his bandaged hand. "Yeah, but… he's _too_ cool. Deep down I wanted him to be freaked out by all this weird stuff. That way he'd either make a run for it, or he'd stay and embarrass himself by getting scared."

"I thought you were set labelling him as inhuman," Mabel reminded, poking the side of her brother's cheek.

Dipper raised his eyes to look at her, looking somewhat offended by her lack of compassion. "I… was… I am! I just need more evidence. He's shady, right? It isn't just me that thinks this, right? Right?"

Mabel put her hands on her hips in retaliation. "So basically, you wanted Danny to either be a soggy paper towel, or a real-life Dracula? Come on, Dipper!"

"I'm not asking for your judgement, Mabel. I'm just telling you how I feel!" He turned his head away from her, feeling betrayed by his one confidant.

She rolled her eyes at his statement. "You're so over-dramatic sometimes! You're only making yourself look like a total butthead right now," she reprimanded, then turned straight around to leave.

"Mabel!" Dipper called, but to no avail. He watched as she stormed over to where Wendy and Soos were searching near the rocks, leaving him standing alone at the edge of the river.

"So much for the buddy system," he grumbled.

Part of him wanted to keep arguing about how it was unsafe to trust someone new, especially when his whole summer has been a lesson in trusting no one; but another part of him knew she was right. He hadn't given Danny a chance, despite him proving time and time again that he wasn't a danger to anyone. Sure he had a strange home-life, but those were things that no one could change.

But strangely enough, just when he was thinking about his predicament with a certain teen, a sudden shout coming from the dense forest rang out. Danny's voice.

* * *

 **OK SO THE "HOPEFULLY I WILL POST SOON" THING WAS SERIOUS BUT I PROCRASTINATED... A LOT. BUT, I literally just kept writing this chapter for so long and I took my sweet time with writing this all throughout my vacation over the holidays.**

 **Also, I finally got a chance to read Journal 3 (shoutout to my sister who let me borrow her copy of the book) which I read obsessively in a time span of 8 hours. If you've had the pleasure of reading the official Journal 3 book, then you would know that the Stomach-faced Duck and the Plaidypus are legitimate creatures in the wonderful world of Gravity Falls, and if you haven't, I HIGHLY suggest reading it. Also, I now own a Dipper hat and Mabel sweater. Best gifts ever.**

 **Also, I have a question for you guys. Recently I've been OBSESSED with Star vs. the Forces of Evil as I just binge watched the series last month and the next part of season 2 is coming out next month, and I've really been wanting to write some fanfiction for it. Would you guys like to see a crossover SVTOE with GF or a standalone SVTFOE story if anything? Just wondering. Y'know.**

 **ANYWAYS. Thank you all for sticking through with me and my mess of an updating schedule, and just know that I love you all so much, and I honestly appreciate it so much every time one of you clicks favourite or follow. Y'all are awesome. Please, please, please drop a review if you're enjoying this story so far as well, I love getting all your reviews and I read all of them. I've already started writing the next chapter, so hopefully it will be out some time in February. The plot is finally picking up and I am so excited.**

 **There's now tension between Dipper and Mabel, Dipper's having some internal struggles, (as well as a badly bandaged arm) while something is obviously happening with Danny... ALL TO BE REVEALED IN DUE TIME. AKA NEXT CHAPTER.**

 **See you then!**

 **\- dannyghost :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE DEPTHS OF WRITER'S BLOCK, HERE IT IS, AFTER ANOTHER 2 MONTHS OF WAITING**

* * *

Chapter 8

It may have been a bit brash, but Danny's curiosity about whatever he had spotted among the trees could not have been just mere coincidences. The deeper their group had wandered into the forest, the more frequently he began to spot these strange eye-like markings on the trees. At first he had thought nothing of it, but once he started noticing more of them, there was no doubt in his mind that there was definitely something strange going on.

Maybe, just maybe, he purposely ignored Mabel's buddy system request. Naturally. Partially because he knew Wendy would offer to buddy up and then Dipper would get mad. Partially because he knew that with a partner, he wouldn't have much freedom to act on his curiosity.

 _Maybe I didn't think that through, though,_ Danny thought, frowning as he observed the trees. His impulsive decision definitely made him seem suspicious. And with Dipper watching his every move like a hawk, he had probably seemed about as shady as Vlad Masters at this point. Danny shivered at the thought of his arch nemesis.

It was no secret to Danny that Dipper didn't trust him either. Or like him, for that matter. The kid wasn't exactly subtle about it. Then again, he couldn't exactly call him just a kid- he was only a few years younger than himself.

Danny huffed as he gradually slowed down his pace, suddenly feeling as winded as he would be after PE class now that the adrenaline rush was gone. His ghostly endurance didn't exactly stretch all the way to his human half. He still hated running. Almost as much he hated as PE.

Noticing that the trees suddenly thinned out, he glanced forward at a barren grove in the middle of the dense forest and gaped. Every tree in the perimeter was coated with the strange markings of a singular eye.

Danny's eyes widened at the sight. "Whoa, what… _is_ this place?" He muttered, placing a gentle hand on one of the strangely marked trees. He ran his finger along the etched surface of the tree trunk and frowned. This whole place just seemed _wrong._ Where exactly was he?

"Is this… some kind of satanic ritual grounds? Cult meeting spot?" He guessed aloud. He didn't know what he was expecting by saying this out in the open. Maybe someone would just magically come out and explain what in the world this place was? He hesitated on the thought of transforming, but he didn't sense any ghost around, so he debated against it. If it wasn't a ghost, then...

His eyes widened at the possibilities coming to mind and couldn't help but exhale hollowly, overcome with the feeling of being watched from every angle.

Danny gulped. He could handle ghosts, sure, but other creatures? He had no experience in that department. He was suddenly starting to regret running off on his own like that. He couldn't have been too far from the others, right?

"Uh, guys?" He called out weakly. "Wendy? Dipper? Mabel? ...Soos?" He asked unsurely as he hesitantly walked further into the middle of the clearing. Maybe he'd be heard better if he was in an open space, he decided.

"Anyone?!" He yelled out again, but this time his voice left an echo throughout the dense forest, unknowingly catching the attention of a particular someone.

* * *

Dipper flinched at the sudden noise coming from north of the forest, and snapped his head upwards to the trees. He looked side to side spastically, before eventually frowning. "What the heck?"

It had sounded like Danny's voice, for sure. And the only reason why Danny would possibly yell out is if he was in trouble, and whether Dipper liked him or not, the teen didn't know how to defend himself against the ravenous creatures in the Gravity Falls forest. Maybe. Dipper still held onto his theory…

 _No, now's not the time for that,_ he reminded himself. If Danny was really as normal as he made himself out to be, he could be in danger. He looked up at his other group members, and noted that they were unfazed by Danny's voice.

"Uhm, did you guys hear that?" Dipper asked cautiously, as he made his way over to the others. He avoided Mabel's curious eyes at first, but the second they made eye contact she looked the other way. _Ouch._

"Hear what?" Wendy frowned in confusion.

"I didn't hear anything, dudebro," Soos shrugged.

"Uh… nevermind," Dipper blinked, beginning to walk backwards in the direction he came from. "Heh, um, guess I'm just hearing things! Haha!" he tried, but cringed at the sound of his voice cracking. "I'm…uh, just, gonna go… over there,' he trailed off awkwardly, and shuffled away.

He was met with collective looks of apprehension from the other three, but he didn't have much time to dwell on it before making his way quickly into the same direction he had remembered seeing Danny running towards.

 _Why am I like this!?_ Dipper's mind screamed as he raced through the trees.

Dipper was soon running out of breath faster than he thought he would, and considering he spent every week running for his life from creatures of the unknown, he thought he'd at least have more stamina. Then again, he did spend his weekends marathoning the latest season of Ducktective with Mabel… and they had eaten all that junk food…

Okay, he really needed to exercise more.

Dipper's feet pounded against the dirt with muddled thoughts before slowing down his pace at the sight before him. The monstrous coniferous trees had long faded out to sparse, dead birch. In fact, everything in the general vicinity of the area, seemed dead. Ominous, even. But most of all, the trees… he's definitely seen those markings before.

He walked further into the area despite everything in his mind telling him not to go in. the panicky, anxious side of him wanted to run the opposite direction but the determined, mystery hunter side overruled, and soon, found himself entering a clearing.

But just as he began to have second thoughts on his decision, he came to a halt, stopping in his tracks at the sight before him.

"Danny?" Dipper questioned unsurely, beginning to feel very much like a deer in headlights.

The teen in question spun around at his voice. "Dipper? Oh, man am I glad to see you, I was beginning to think I was lost or something!" he exclaimed with relief. "Although, you're probably not that glad to see me, considering you don't actually like me…" he muttered.

Dipper decided to not comment on that last part, before spiraling into a series of questions. "What are you doing out here? How did you even find this place?"

"Well, I…uh, got kinda curious," Danny began. "I swore I saw these freaky looking trees with eyes back there, and I wanted to check it out, so, I followed the markings, and I ended up here?" he explained, but it sounded more like a question than not.

"Trees with eyes?" Dipper repeated. _This was why he came out here all by himself in such a rush? To see some trees?_

Danny seemed unfazed, if anything. "Yeah. And, now being in a clearing surrounded by trees with eyes kinda makes me wish I didn't decide to come here all by myself," he admitted.

"Really?" Dipper questioned, lifting an eyebrow. "I find it hard to believe you ran straight into this particular clearing because you were interested in some _trees_."

"No, really! I saw these eye markings, and I thought it was strange so I wanted to check it out!" Danny defended.

Dipper looked at Danny apprehensively, furrowing his brows in thought. He needed to know for sure, what really was this guy's deal. His mind raged into a whirlwind of sparing thoughts. His original thoughts on Danny weren't the peachiest, and since meeting the guy they haven't improved. Between his suspicions on Danny trying to get Wendy, (hence him being the literal epitome of Robbie 2.0) and being some kind of unnatural creature of unimaginable terror, at least one of them had to be true. Dipper couldn't have been as paranoid as Mabel was making it seem like he was, right? _Right?_

But despite his intrusive thoughts, he didn't feel like confronting him about Wendy, because that would lead to him finding out about his inexplicable crush on her. And there was no way Dipper wanted that. Was he too obvious about it? _Oh god, what if he already knew? What if he tells her? What if he already told her?_

In the midst of a breakdown, he realized he actually had to respond. Remembering that he was the one confronting Danny, he instead asked the next thing that came to mind. "What kind of out-of-towner runs straight into possible danger?"

Danny only raised his eyebrows at this. "Ghost infested town, remember?"

"Wouldn't that mean you should know when to run from danger? Not run towards it?" Dipper countered.

He was met with a face that was indecipherable. "Well I–"

"Give it up, man, I know you're not human!" Dipper blurted.

"Wait, what?!" Danny backed away in shock. He swallowed, and for a split second, Dipper swore he saw terror in his eyes before resuming his confused expression.

In this moment, he was either right or very, very wrong about all this, and considering he virtually had no proof, Dipper felt like he was basically digging his own grave. And rather than trying to backtrack, only word vomit came out. "So what is it? Are you some kind of creature? Vampire? Werewolf? Zombie? ... _A bunch of gnomes?!_ " he rambled, taking several steps forward, prompting Danny to take several steps back.

"I–uh, no!" Danny defended, waving his hands in front of him. "I'm not a bunch of gnomes!"

"Are you sure?" Dipper tried again, but soon regretted speaking when he suddenly realized that everything he was saying really, really, didn't make sense. _Great job,_ he mentally berated. But now that he had put his accusations out into the open, there was no going back.

"W-what could have possibly lead you to believe _that_ of all things? And I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I don't look like a brain eating zombie," Danny laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Or a werewolf or vampire, because apparently those exist too, here…"

"Well… how do I know you're not just lying?" Dipper responded, but the more he spoke, the more he knew that he was going to be on the losing side of the argument that _he_ himself had started in the first place.

"I...what? Just, what proof do you even have? What is this even about? You can't just come up with all this stuff with no facts or…" Danny trailed off, then met eyes with Dipper. He then shook his head at whatever he was going to say, then sighed. "...Dipper, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Dipper said wryly.

"Why do you hate me?" Danny started, then made a face, before adding, "Er, I mean, why did you dislike me, before? I've been nothing but nice to you. I think. What did I do to you? Is this... about Wendy?" he asked hesitantly.

Freezing at the mention of his unrequited crush, Dipper's mind began to spiral. _Oh god, he knows,_ he thought frantically. _Now he'll use this as leverage over me and I'll never get to… Wait, am I being too over dramatic again? Say something! You're staring at him again!_

But instead, only word vomit came out. "Uh, no! Wh-why would you think that? Why would this be about Wendy?" he babbled, before groaning and letting his arms droop to his sides in defeat, once he realized that there was no point in denying it any further. Dipper sighed. "I don't… _hate_ you, it's just…" He began, but stopped himself once he found that he really had no explanation.

He really was on a whim here with his random accusations, he realized. He hadn't liked Danny just because he thought he'd be in the way, and he had conjured up the wild idea that Danny might be some kind of creature, when really, none of that even made sense. Sure, he had a paranormal background with ghosts and all, but his parents were literal ghost hunters!

 _I really messed up,_ Dipper thought dejectedly. He'd been so caught up in his own emotions and self loathing that he hadn't stopped to think how Danny felt about any of this. Being just a normal guy from out of town and having been accused of being some sort of creature? Now that Dipper thought of it, he found that he _really_ was the one at fault here.

At least Mabel wasn't around to tell him _I told you so._

"Listen," Danny said softly, "I know we came off the wrong foot, but I just wanted to set things straight with you. I'm not trying to steal Wendy away from you or anything. I mean, she's cool and all, but, I just met her yesterday, and besides, I kind of already like this girl back home…" he trailed off, seeming to think about something before continuing, "Anyway, that's not the point. I know you like Wendy and all, but dude, assuming that I must be some kind of inhuman creature as the only explanation for why I'd be in the way or something? Why?"

Dipper swallowed painfully. "H-how did you…"

Danny blanched at this, and blinked rapidly. "I mean, heh, it's not like I'm a stalker or anything, I swear, I mean, it's obvious you like her!" he spluttered awkwardly, losing his previous demeanor entirely.

"Oh boy," Dipper deflated. "It was the constant staring, wasn't it?"

"Uh… yeah sure, let's say that," Danny agreed hastily, before muttering something incoherent under his breath.

Dipper managed to not even take notice to Danny's more than suspicious responses as their confrontation came to a close. Instead, he was still wrapped up with his own issues, all the while thinking of what exactly he was going to say.

Dipper exhaled. "Okay, so, I _may have_ gone a bit overboard on my conspiracy theory this time..." he admitted with a remorseful look in his eyes. "When you first showed up at the Shack, and you were with Wendy and all, I just got so jealous that the first thing that came to mind was you being some sort of creature or something, because in this town that's pretty much normal. I'm not the kind of person to just trust someone who waltzes into the lives of the people I care about, and especially since you seemed to be pretty familiar with the supernatural, with the ghosts in your city and all…"

Danny relaxed his shoulders upon hearing Dipper's explanation. "Okay, understandable," he began. "I'm glad that's all cleared up now, and just to set things straight– I'm not a _creature_. But I _do_ see ghosts on the regular. My parents _are_ ghost hunters, and just like Gravity Falls has its own… weirdness, so does Amity Park. But that doesn't mean I'm evil, or you're evil. It just means we've got more in common than we think," he said with a small smile.

"I guess so, yeah," Dipper agreed, a smile of his own beginning to form.

"...Hey Dipper?" Danny asked, after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Yeah?"

"You know Wendy's like, too old for you, right?"

"I know," Dipper sighed, much to Danny's amusement.

* * *

Over by the river, Wendy and Mabel were sitting around on the rocks being entertained by Soos doing his best Stan impression. Much to the amazement of the girls, Soos was capable of imitating Stan's voice near perfectly. He claimed it was from his extensive practice in the mirror, entirely due to his full time devotion to Stan. Wendy had recorded the whole thing on her phone for future use, while Mabel had vowed to make Soos do his impression in front of Stan later.

As of now, they had long stopped searching for the Plaidypus after Dipper had hastily left the area, and considering none of them had remembered what direction he went off in, they hadn't know where to begin even searching for him.

Figuring that if they stayed in one place, Dipper would find the three after he came back, and with Wendy's suggestion that he most likely set off to find Danny, (despite Mabel's doubts), they weren't worried as much as they could have been.

" _Do it! Do it! Do it!"_ Wendy and Mabel chanted, pumping their fists into the air.

"Heh, alright dudes... " Soos laughed, before putting on a facial expression that resembled Stan's signature frown. " _Soos, make that keychain a hundred bucks more! Wendy, stack those overpriced novelty shirts! Now come on, the tourists aren't gonna rip themselves off!"_ he yelled to the thin air beside him, to the utter amusement of the two girls.

Wendy was laughing so hard her sides were aching. "Oh man, that's so true! He would totally say those things! It's like you've been inside his mind or something!" she exclaimed.

"Oh believe me, dude, I have," he said seriously.

Mabel shivered. "I have seen things I cannot unsee," she agreed.

"Woah, wait forreal?" Wendy asked, beginning to stand up from her place on the rock. "You guys went _inside_ Stan's mind?"

"For Realsies!" Mabel brightened, then a frown etched onto her face. "Well, it was to get this triangle demon Bill out of his mind. Ugh, I hope I never have to see that evil nacho chip ever again!" she groaned.

"Ditto," Soos remarked. "Triangle guy– bad news."

Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Wait, triangle guy…it kinda sounds familiar…" she trailed off, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh! Your sock puppet play, Mabel! Wasn't he like, possessing Dipper or something?"

"Yup! And then after I blew up the stage with fireworks, we haven't seen him since! So, I don't think we have to worry about _him_ for a while."

"If you say so," Wendy laughed, and soon the three were left in a comfortable silence for a few moments before anyone had decided to speak again.

Minutes passed.

Soos' face twisted slightly and he froze, only turning his head slightly to the side as though trying to locate the source of some far off sound. "Dudes…you hear some kind of high-pitched noise or is it just me?" he looked around cautiously, before loudly taking a bite out of his granola bar and shifted his eyes suspiciously from left to right. Noticing a small insect circling around his snack, he promptly swat at it, frowning.

"High-pitched noise?" Mabel echoed, looking over to another bug flying in her direction.

Wendy sat upright from her laid back position on the rock upon hearing the sound, and suddenly became aware of the several increasing insects flying around seemingly out of nowhere. "Ugh, where are these coming from!?" she asked irritably, taking out her axe from her belt to swing fruitlessly at the incoming bugs.

"Blargh! Are these _moths_?" Mabel exclaimed in disgust. She began to swat them away frantically, but no to avail, and soon, she too was overwhelmed with the swarm and began to yell. "What the…! Ack!"

The buzzing of the now present moths soon became deafening, until suddenly they quit swarming the trio and soon began to materialize into the physical embodiment of a ten-foot-tall mothman humanoid. As it loomed over the three, it could have rivaled the statue of Paul Bunyan in size– and the constant high pitches and hums of the erratic being did _not_ help.

The three Mystery Shack employees looked up in horror at the sight before them.

"Uh, guys?" Soos squeaked fearfully. "I think we _might_ have a problem."

* * *

Back in the clearing, Danny and Dipper had finally managed to somewhat make friends with each after all their differences put aside. They were in the midst of a light conversation– Dipper sitting on a stray tree log while across from him, while Danny leaned against the base of an eye marked tree.

"You know, I kinda don't blame you for being so paranoid about all this," Danny commented. "I mean, when you live with the threat of constant death you tend to get over protective about everything. It's just survival. I've had my moments too, but sometimes a friendly tourist is just a friendly tourist, and creepy trees are just–"

He was cut off by a rustling coming from just across the clearing, and he froze, snapping his jaw shut. The boys averted their eyes from the clearing and glanced towards the noise in question and silently made eye contact, preparing for the worst.

But to their surprise, a deer with three eyes poked its head out of the bushes and ran across the clearing to the other side, soon disappearing into the trees. It just ignored the boys entirely, as if they were never even there.

"...trees." Danny finished meekly. He did a double take at Dipper and back again to the deer. _It's a living deer with three eyes?_ he mused to himself. _It's not green, so surely it can't be a ghost…_

"What _was_ that?" he asked aimlessly, though it was more to himself than to Dipper.

Meanwhile, Dipper had immediately recognized the cause for the three eyed deer. The deer in the Gravity Falls forest weren't normally like that unless something had interfered with them. And there was only one thing that could have done that.

"Oh no." Dipper blanched.

The rustling of the leaves seemed to slow to a halt, and the rich natural hues of the flora bleached out before the eyes of two boys, turning everything in sight to black and white with the exception of themselves. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and neither boy could tell if it just felt like it was or if things were actually moving at that pace.

Lightning struck the skies, and the clouds considerably began to move in fast forward. Danny began to feel dizzy. Was time really moving at this speed or was he dreaming?

Familiar, loud, high-pitched laughter began to fill the air, leaving an echo in all directions.

"We have to leave," Dipper ordered, once they gained consciousness again. "Now!"

Danny wildly looked around their surroundings with a lost expression. "Huh? What's happening?" he asked quickly, turning to Dipper. "Do you know what's going on?"

Before Dipper could even utter a response, a large triangle materialized out of thin air, then promptly combusted into surrounding flames along its edges. A crease in the center of the triangle appeared, and opened like a rift in the universe before fading to white, leaving only a large, menacing eye in its wake, of a certain yellow dream demon.

"Well, well, _well,_ " Bill Cipher mused. His voice held a mixture of a condescending tone and excitement, and left a lingering echo as he spoke. He seemed to completely disregard the presence of Danny, and instead floated nonchalantly towards Dipper. "Look who it is! My favourite fleshbag! _Did you miss me?"_ the demon asked mischievously.

Dipper briefly widened his eyes in shock, before clenching his fists in frustration. "As if! What are you doing here?" he seethed, and snuck a quick glance at Danny beside him. The teen was now suspiciously not afraid anymore, and seemed to be searching for some sort of exit route as a means of escape. Dipper didn't bother to tell him that they were in the mindscape now; he couldn't escape nor hide.

"Uh, Dipper…?" Danny trailed off, looking back and forth at Dipper and Bill. "Do you know this…guy– er...thing?"

Dipper bit his lip down in frustration. "No! Well, yes, but I–"

Before he could even finish his stammered response, Bill snapped his fingers and Danny's eyes rolled to the back of his head, making his body falling limply to the ground not a second later. He landed swiftly onto the hard dirt, with arms and legs sprawled across the ground.

"Danny?!" Dipper openly gaped at his unconscious companion. "W-what did you do to him?!" he spluttered out accusingly, kneeling down to nudge the teen awake with no success. He then raised one of Danny's arms from the ground, and slowly it lifted like a rag doll, before letting it drop harshly to the ground. Horror slowly rose up inside Dipper. "Is he…"

"Oh, _relax,_ Pine Tree! He's not _dead!_ I just put him in a temporal nightmare state of consciousness where he's currently living out all his worst fears!" Bill exclaimed, flying closer to Dipper.

"What?! You did WHAT–"

Dipper was cut off by the sound of Bill's erratic high pitched laughter. "Don't worry, he'll wake up! Eventually. Maybe." Bill floated closer to Dipper, eyeing the state of him. When he didn't look back up at Bill, he continued, "I'm just _joking,_ kid! Live a little!"

Dipper glared. "Great. I finally made a friend out of the guy I thought I hated, and now he probably thinks _I'm_ a freak! If he's even conscious right now, at all, wherever you put his mind!"

"Oh, his mind is _fine!_ Say," he drawled, "How are those cuts and bruises treating you from our last meeting? I sure did leave a mark, eh?" Bill chuckled, elbowing him.

Dipper was then reminded of when Bill had possessed his body during Mabel's whole puppet fiasco, when Bill threw his body down a flight of stairs, closed the kitchen drawer on his hands, and stuck forks through his skin. He shivered at the memory, and his brows furrowed in frustration. "What do you want, Bill? You've done enough damage, just get lost!" He turned his back to the stone faced dream demon and crossed his arms defensively, hands covering some of the worse scars.

"Ooh, a temper! I like that, kid!" Bill complemented, resting his small hands on his triangular hips. Suddenly his entire demeanor changed within the blink of an eye. "Here, have this mirror that shows you every possible way that you can die!" he exclaimed innocently, and held out his hand to where a handheld mirror poofed into existence.

"What the, AH!" Dipper stared into the mirror, horrified at what he saw. "I don't want this!" he yelled, swatting away the mirror causing it to shatter on the ground.

"Now, is that any way to treat a _friend_?" Bill asked, but when he said the word _friend,_ his yellow appearance turned large, bright red and angry as he came too-close-for-comfort up against Dipper.

"I am not your friend! You stole my body!" Dipper yelled through narrowed eyes.

"The past is the past; 'Forgive and forget!' as you _humans_ say." Bill laughed. His eye turned to Dipper, and without missing a beat he flew over to face the boy once more. "Listen kid. I need something. Information. And a little book worm like you might happen to know something about something."

This undoubtedly caught Dipper's attention, but he was still apprehensive. "Something like what?" He said, carefully choosing his words as he spoke.

"There's a certain something new. I can't put my finger on it because it's been _moving around._ " he explained with his hands, his eyes flashing blue on his last two words.

"Once again, something like what?" Dipper pressed.

"Kid, If I knew, I would tell you. All I know is that it feels like it's not from this dimension. It's definitely _weird,"_ he continued, eye flashing red as he said the word _weird._

"How would _I_ know something like that? Why would I even tell you?"

"Fair game. I give you a chance to fork up the truth. If you lie to me and I find out, I'll **end you**. Sounds good, right?" Bill seemed to sound playful throughout his threats. Dipper took a step back in defence.

"I want nothing to do with you, Bill," Dipper put his hands up in front of him. "I have no clue what your game is, and I don't want anyone to get hurt. Just leave us alone."

"Dramatic as always, Pine Tree! Speaking of ' **us'** , who's the new meatbag?" Bill eyed Danny from his spot in the air.

Dipper turned his head to glance at Danny, who was still lying on his back, unconscious. "Just… some regular tourist. Not a threat." Dipper maintained face. He couldn't show a hint of doubt in the face of Bill.

Bill sighed disappointedly, and rolled his eye towards Dipper. "You've got guts coming here, kid. I'll see you around! Maybe," he promised. "But until then, I'll be **watching!** " Bill laughed before blinking out of the visible realm.

The surroundings began to revert back into their original colours once more, and Dipper blinked in shock, startling himself awake. _Wait, I was sleeping?_ He thought, and then remembered that he was in the mindscape just seconds before. He breathed a sigh of relief, the adrenaline in seeing his enemy now gone, before panic began to arise in him.

As the forest regained its colour and composure, Danny shot upright as if awoken by a loud sound. "Please don't dissect me! _I'm not a–"_ he yelled as soon as he came to, but cut himself off as soon as he saw Dipper crouching down next to him. Then he frowned, and seemed to realize that he was sitting on the forest floor. "Dipper?" he asked unsurely. "Where the heck… What was that? And why do I smell like… dirt?" he asked confusedly from his sitting position, rubbing his head.

Dipper's eyes widened. He couldn't tell Danny the truth, and be seen as a hypocrite. But then again, he did see Bill. "Uh, what do you remember?" He stretched out a hand to help him off the floor.

"A yellow blur, and then..." Danny's eyes widened as his words trailed off, and as his memories came flooding back he turned his sights away from Dipper's view. "Nevermind that." He stood up and dusted off the dirt from where he was laying on the ground, visibly wincing at the movement of his left elbow.

 _Ooh, He scraped himself on the fall,_ Dipper pitied.

"Are you okay?" he asked, feeling guilty about not helping Danny off the ground sooner. He was so shocked by Bill's sudden appearance that in the moment, he completely forgot about Danny.

Danny pressed his hand against the side of his head, unsuccessfully trying to will away the pressure built up in his skull. After realising his headache would not be sent away so easily, he let out a lot sigh and allowed gravity to drop his dead weight arm.

"I guess. I mean, my head is killing me, but, I think I can manage," Danny gave a pained smile, turning to Dipper.

"Well, then we should probably get back to the others," Dipper suggested. "We've been gone for a while." _At least about twenty minutes, almost,_ he thought. _Would Mabel even be worried? Was she still mad at me?_

"Yeah, I guess we should," Danny agreed as they began to walk off together, back in the direction of the river.

But above everything, Dipper couldn't help but feel uneasy about Bill's words. What weird new presence was he on about exactly? And why did he have a feeling that it had to do with Danny?

Whatever it was, Dipper was determined to find out.

* * *

 **HELLO AGAIN**

 **So, I wanted to apologize for the umpteenth time for missing my promise update. I tried to make this chapter extra long in compensation for that, so I hope that makes up for it!**

 **I wanted to thank** _lupsss1412, Panther4Life, bruno14, EmPro8, ShiraCr18, RedHeadsRock1010, Guest, Loopy Leefy, Petrovik, DipperDanny0715, Con-san, Bug Queen,_ **and** _Lazy Me_ **for leaving reviews on the last chapter.**

 **About the comments regarding what I said in my last author's note about Journal 3, I don't exactly own Journal 3 either! I borrowed it from my wonderful sister when I went to visit her in Canada, who actually bought it when she went to the U.S! It's not available where I live either, but if it is where any of you live, again, I highly recommend.**

 **To EmPro8: No offense taken! I do think SVTFOE is a great show, and I think I initially thought that too before I started to watch it, but trust me, the plot picks up A LOT at the end of season 1. It's remotely similar a lot to Gravity Falls which is why I like it, and if you do get the chance to watch Star vs. the Forces of Evil, you won't regret it!**

 **As for Bug Queen's question: Why didn't Stan react more when he saw Phantom in the mirror? Did he just assume he was another ghost like the ones in the convenience store, or merely deem him non-threatening?**

 **Well, I would most say the last option best suits the answer to your question. Stan has seen paranormal stuff before, and Danny doesn't exactly look malevolent, so yes, he thinks of Danny as non-threatening. I planned to touch more upon that in a later chapter!**

 **Anyways, until next chapter!**

 **-dannyghost :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**HELLO I'M ALIVE YES ITS BEEN ANOTHER TWO MONTHS AND IM EMBARRASSED BUT I FINISHED AND HERE IT IS**

* * *

Chapter 9

Danny couldn't help but feel odd after the whole 'clearing in the woods' ordeal. He had apparently tripped over a rock in surprise after seeing a deer, and hit his head on the way down, losing consciousness. Or at least, that's what Dipper had repeatedly insisted as they made their way back to the river.

He still felt that something was missing in Dipper's retelling of what happened, but it could easily have been his active paranoia striking again. Either Dipper was lying to him, or he really was just losing it. But after seeing some of the weird creatures in Gravity Falls already, why would Dipper lie to him about what happened? _Well technically, I lied too about not being a creature,_ his conscience suggested. _But that's not important,_ the rational part of his brain fought back.

He supposed that tripping over a rock would be sufficient enough for an explanation, yet for some reason, there remained a lingering thought of… a floating yellow triangle?

Danny blinked at the absurdity of his own thoughts, nearly stopping in his tracks. Doubt plagued his mind as he thought about it, and briefly considered asking Dipper if he knew anything about it, to get some kind of confirmation. After all, whatever was stuck on his mind, must be stuck there for a reason, right?

"Uh, hey Dipper?"

"Hm?"

The teen glanced at him, trying his best to choose his words carefully before he spoke. The last thing he wanted was for Dipper to think he was some kind of lunatic for asking what he was about to ask, but it wouldn't hurt to try getting some answer from him. "You wouldn't happen to… let's say, know anything about some kind of floating yellow triangle, _right?_ "

"Nope," Dipper swallowed, turning to face Danny with a facial expression that screamed of panic, and quite possibly guilt, before forcibly giving a smile. "Why, uh, why would you think that?" he asked casually.

Danny raised a brow, but continued anyways. "Well, it's just all I can think of. Maybe it was just a part of my dream when I was unconscious, I don't know. It's just been stuck on my mind for some reason, y'know?" He flashed his teeth in a small half smile in an attempt not to sound accusatory.

"Oh," Dipper said simply, breathing a sigh of relief as he spoke. He bit his lip before speaking again. "Maybe you… maybe when you fell, there was a... nacho chip next to the rock, and it was the last thing you saw before you went unconscious…?" he tried with a nervous smile.

Danny squinted at him skeptically as they trailed the path along the woods. "Since when are there _nacho chips_ in the forest?"

"Soos carries nacho chips with him all the time, and he's in the forest," he began, "maybe he... uh, maybe he dropped some there. Yup," he clarified, nodding warily as he spoke. His facial expression seemed to entirely disagree with whatever he was saying.

Danny frowned. Dipper's story was obviously far fetched, even for him, and Danny was beginning to see that he was clearly lying to him. "But Soos was never in that clearing. He's all the way by the river..." he trailed off.

"Uh… look over there!" Dipper suddenly shouted, pointing in a random direction. "A gnome!"

Danny looked around. "What? Where? I don't see a–"

"Oh, haha, nevermind, it was probably just a tree…" Dipper interrupted, brushing off his prior claim with ease.

"Right," Danny agreed uneasily. _What exactly was going through that kid's head? He really seems like he's hiding something,_ he thought, and slowly came to the conclusion that Dipper definitely knew something that he wasn't telling. Unfortunately, before he could ask anything else, Danny realized that they had made it back to the river.

Dipper nudged his shoulder. "Hey, look, there's the others!" he exclaimed as he ran ahead, leaving Danny behind. He ran to catch up with him, only to be confused as to why Dipper had suddenly stopped, and soon laid eyes upon the same sight.

Wendy, Mabel and Soos looked like they had just gone through the entire apocalypse, complete with tattered clothes and makeshift weapons in their hands.

 _Were Dipper and I really gone long enough for all of this to happen? Exactly how long was I unconscious?! Was that a leaf blower in Mabel's hands? And what kind of liquid is Wendy's axe covered in?_ Danny thought, horrified. "So you guys went through a war, and I hit my head against a rock? What else did I miss? A monster or something?"

Dipper ran straight towards his sister, bracing himself for the worst possible scenario to come out of his sister's mouth. "Mabel! What happened?! You look– you look horrible, why are there holes in your clothes!? Why are you holding the leafblower like that?! Wait, are you still mad at me? Because I–"

"DIPPER!" She yelled, interrupting his blabbering to engulf Dipper in a bear hug. "You missed it! I _totally_ fought off the Mothman," she claimed, stepping back to leave room for him to breathe. She then rustled the leaves out of her hair before combing her fingers through the tangled mess, using her free hand that wasn't equipped with the leaf blower.

Wendy raised a brow. "You sure?" she asked with a small laugh. "Cause last time I checked, I was doing most of the fighting."

Mabel smiled bashfully. "Okay, well Wendy helped," she gave in.

"Helped? Man, if it weren't for me we'd be moth food!" Wendy started, only to be hushed by Mabel. She snorted in response, and the girls playfully nudged each other.

"The Mothman?! You were attacked by him? I've been searching for his presence for the longest time and I– Wait, so you're not still mad about before?" Dipper babbled worriedly, stopping his own train of thought. The last time he had talked to Mabel before he went to go find Danny, was, uncoincidentally about Danny, and she had left him after being annoyed by his theories about the teen. Which, turned to be untrue after getting reassurance from Danny that he was in fact a human, but that was to be debated later.

"Well," Mabel drawled, "I _was,_ but when you think you're about to get eaten alive by an army of moths, you learn to let things go," she laughed.

Dipper sagged his shoulders in relief with the confirmation that his twin was no longer mad at him, but still was uneasy towards her casualness towards her near death experience. "That's good to hear, but also pretty concerning… are you _sure_ you guys are okay?"

"Never better!" Mabel insisted. Dipper gave her a cynical look in return.

"I am a changed man." Soos declared loudly, brandishing a long, pointed stick, before letting out a short chuckle. "Dudes, I stabbed so many bugs with this stick."

"I feel like that was enough adventure for the week. Or for the next month," Wendy added dully, shoving her handheld axe back into her belt.

Mabel grinned victoriously, lifting up her leaf blower in the air. "See, guys! Yet another anomolomaly–"

"–anomaly–" Dipper corrected.

"–Anomaly that the leafblower wins against!"

Dipper looked at their surroundings by the river, taking in the battlefield-like state of where they stood. He raised an eyebrow, and while feeling both proud and concerned for his sister and friends taking on a creature like that, he also had a pounding question. "Mabel, how did you even manage to beat the Mothman with a _leaf blower?_ "

His sister grinned deviously in reply, before patting the leaf blower in her hands proudly without saying anything. Dipper raised an eyebrow, knowing Mabel well enough to know what on Earth she had meant by her questionable actions.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Danny asked confusedly.

Dipper narrowed his eyes in thought. "You sucked up all the moths, didn't you?"

"Correct!" Mabel clarified, pumping a fist into the air unceremoniously.

Dipper groaned. "I can't believe you guys found an anomaly from the journal and I wasn't even there to see it," he complained. "I've been searching for traces of the Mothman for _days!_ "

"Hey dude, if it's any consolation, it was _totally_ awesome."

"That's… that doesn't help, Soos."

"I know," the handyman shrugged. "Worth a try though."

Wendy snickered.

"So," Danny began awkwardly, clearing his throat. "Is anyone actually still game for looking for that plaidypus thing or not, because I think we can all agree we're tired, and we'll be walking home in the dark if we don't leave soon."

The others looked around at each other before tugging their lips into a half smile of agreeance, except for Soos, who looked slightly disappointed. "I was looking forward to seeing the little dude."

"Hey, we saw a freaky duck with its own organs coming out of its own mouth today. I call that a win. Even if we didn't find the plaidypus, there's always next time, right?" Wendy reasoned.

"Right!" Mabel agreed.

Danny looked between the group of four standing together in the clearing. _They do seem to be capable after all,_ he thought, coming to the conclusion that they were a bit like him and his own friends back in Amity Park. Sam and Tucker were always ready to fight ghosts by his side, and likewise, these four here were always ready to solve whatever mysteries together that lurked in Gravity Falls.

 _I guess there really are towns that are as weird as Amity Park, if not weirder,_ Danny mused, as the group began to walk along the forest path. _This town has definitely got something going on, more than it's letting on._

He immediately thought back to his earlier conversation with Jazz back at the motel before he left, and then the feeling of overarching guilt followed along with it. He really needed to apologize to her when he got back.

The last thing he wanted was to ruin their family vacation, but then again, how long were they even staying in Gravity Falls? Their parents seemed interested enough to stay, but weren't they dead set on going to California before they ended up here? He hadn't even wanted to come in the first place, yet here he was, in the forest of a weird town with some people he met yesterday.

He's done weirder things.

But now he was beginning to dread answering all of Jazz's questions when he arrived back. At least she'll be happy he made new friends, right? She usually bagged on him for only having Sam and Tuck as friends, so now she couldn't complain anymore. Wait, did these guys even count as friends?

He _did_ only meet them yesterday, but Wendy seemed friendly enough for her to consider him as a friend. Soos, he hadn't interacted with much, but from what he got, he was a funny guy who just happened to be there, doing his own thing. Soos… was Soos.

The twins, on the other hand, were a different story. Mabel seemed open enough, if not a little _too_ open, and was definitely on the touchy side. And Dipper… things were more complicated. After (correctly) accusing him of being supernatural, they worked it out, then Danny apparently hit his head against a rock and passed out, and now everything was fine?

 _Yep, definitely not telling Jazz about that last part._

As they all walked back, Danny felt satisfied with their 'adventure' despite the odd encounter towards the end. If such a strange creature actually existed in nature, was it possible that the mystery shack held further truths? Danny thought back to the exhibits. _Not likely… but the mirror in the gift shop surprisingly did more than expected._

"Hey, so about the Mystery Shack… are some of those exhibits...real? Like the duck we saw?" Danny asked aloud, finally voicing his thoughts.

"Well, no, most of the things that Grunkle Stan sells are fake, but then again there's sometimes real artifacts in the Shack and even real weirder things in the town that do all sorts of crazy stuff… but no one in Gravity Falls really believes it." Dipper explained.

"Except us!" Mabel added.

Dipper gave a half smile. "Yeah, I mean, the people here are kind of oblivious," he continued, and then paused, "No offence, guys," he added quickly, looking at Wendy and Soos.

"None taken," Soos shrugged.

"Hey, it's true," Wendy answered. "But we've seen it with our own eyes. The real stuff, man."

"So like, are there real artifacts in the Shack?" Danny asked, his thoughts going back to the mirror that had revealed his form to Stan, even when he had gone invisible. "Like what?"

"More than you think, dude!" Soos exclaimed, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder.

Mabel turned and smiled mischievously. "I guess you'll have to go on the tour and find out!" she added with the most dramatic voice she could muster.

Dipper laughed along with her. "The exhibits in the shop are nothing but cheap hoaxes. In fact, my Great uncle Stan sometimes asks me to come up with new exhibits. We've tried going out on a limb and using real creatures, but…. the public can't exactly handle it," he added sheepishly.

"Can't handle it? Brobro, you totally almost killed those people!" Mabel snorted with laughter.

Dipper gave her a miffed look. "I had it under control! It was you who–"

Mabel plugged her fingers in her ears and circled around the group. "LALALALALALA! Take the fall Dipper!" she yelled loudly at her twin, the latter sighing exasperatedly.

"Mabel!"

Danny sighed in content at the now bickering twins. "Man. After everything today, I can confidently say this place is just as weird as Amity Park," he commented aloud. "If not, weirder..." he mumbled contentedly.

The group had managed to reach the clearing in front of the Mystery Shack in one piece after a little while longer, despite all the trouble they had endured on their conquest to find the plaidypus. Mabel, Soos and Wendy still weren't in prime condition after their run in with the Mothman, but they also insisted that they would 'fight another monster if they could'. Danny was starting to get the feeling that this in fact was their daily norm.

"So, you ready to go, dude?" Wendy asked, walking up next to Danny's side.

"Yeah, this has been an…eye-opening experience," he responded with a half-smile.

Wendy smiled back, before dropping her grin in realization of something. "Oh shoot, I never got the chance to tell you those ghost stories I promised!" she exclaimed, before sighing.

"Oh, that's right! I was actually looking forward to that," he lamented. "And after today, I'm twenty times more interested in the weird things in this town. Can I take a rain check?"

"Well, we're pretty much at our destination, and since I can't do it justice now, then yeah. Rain check, definitely. But you and your sis should totally come over for late breakfast some time, and we can talk more then. My family makes _the best_ pancakes." she offered.

Danny grinned. "Sure! I think I'm staying in town all week anyway… seems like my parents are pretty preoccupied with this town. And for once, they're right about their suspicions."

"You know, I still can't get over the fact that your parents are ghost hunters, man," Wendy snorted. "Anyways, I can text you the details later," she suggested.

"Okay, that'd be great!" Danny grinned, handing her his cell phone and watching as she added herself in as a contact before sending herself a text with his phone.

"There. Added!" she declared, handing him back his phone. As he took it back, he noticed that he had two missed calls from Jazz, and multiple text messages. She had probably freaked because he hasn't answered his phone once.

 _Crud,_ he groaned internally.

"Thanks. Well, since we're back here already, I guess I should get going by now. Jazz is probably worried that I've been gone too long already, and if I don't get back now she's probably going to assume I've been kidnapped, or died or something." Danny explained.

"Yeah. Wouldn't want her to call out a search party for you," Wendy joked. "But tell her about my offer, yeah?"

"I will. And… I guess I should go say bye to the others before I go," he added, before beginning to make his way over to Soos and the twins.

* * *

Danny phased invisibly into his motel room, noting his sister's total distraction, and released his invisibility before reverting back to human form. Looking around the room, he grabbed some extra clothes from his suitcase and a towel before he quietly closed the door to the bathroom, and turned on the shower handle.

At the sudden sound of the running shower water Jazz slammed down her book and looked wide-eyed towards the the bathroom. She exhaled and groaned at the realization that it was just her brother, coming late from wherever he'd been. He hadn't even told her where he had been all afternoon. Typical Danny.

Tossing her book to the side, Jazz walked towards the locked bathroom door and decided whether to say something now or hold her tongue. Deciding it would be better to wait and see whether how he was feeling before possibly yelling at him, she laid down on the bed and tried to surf through the limited channels on the TV. "What even are these commercials? Owl Trowel? What?" she muttered as she clicked passively on the remote until she could find something worth watching. So far, nothing yet.

Minutes later, Danny finally exited the bathroom, with his hair slightly damp. He was rubbing the back of his head, an unreadable expression on his face. Jazz carefully tried to decipher what could possibly be running through his mind, before realizing that she was staring at her brother.

"What?" Danny frowned. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No! Nothing!" she smiled nervously, sitting upright from her position on her bed. "Just worried. You've been on edge lately and I wanted to make sure that you're okay."

"I know, but you really don't need to worry. Even if I'm ' _on edge'_ ," Danny began, making quotations in the air, "I'm just a moody teenager. It's not a sign of impending inhuman rage or a ghostly lash-out. I'm normal." With his final words he looked off to the side, seemingly doubting them.

Jazz sighed. "Danny, I know. I'm just trying to look out for you. I've just been so worried because you've been so distant recently and I just want to know that you're safe. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong, or..."

"Look, I've been meaning to apologize about that. I just–" Danny paused and pulled the damp towel off of his shoulders and flung it onto the floor. "I'm sorry. I know our last conversation didn't exactly end well, and I don't want you to stay mad at me over it. The last thing I want is for our family vacation to go wonk because of me acting like a jerk."

"Danny, I'm not mad at you. In fact, I even covered for you when mom and dad kept asking where you were. So, you're welcome by the way for that, but that's not my point. I care about you, you know? It's my duty as an older sister to take care of my little brother."

"Thanks, Jazz. But I was safe, I swear. And, I made a few friends today too… I guess."

"It's good you're able to make friends, Danny. I'm not going to hold you back from that. All I wanted was to know where you were so I could know you were safe." Jazz reasoned.

"Okay, noted. But still, you really don't need to act like a helicopter parent all the time. I can take of myself, too, y'know," Danny responded, taking a seat at the edge of his bed.

Jazz smirked. "Oh, I know. But don't forget I also enjoy bothering you."

"How could I ever forget that? That fact alone might as well be embedded into my mind," Danny joked.

"Oh stop," Jazz said bashfully, throwing a pillow at Danny from her bed. He turned intangible to avoid it, letting the pillow sail harmlessly through him. He gave her a smug grin.

"Cheater," Jazz mumbled.

Danny laughed. "Oh! By the way, I mentioned you to the girl from the gift shop, Wendy, and she offered to have us come over for breakfast sometime in the next couple of days. She's really cool, too. Apparently her family makes really good pancakes. And _anything_ is better than mom's pancakes, so I say we take it."

Jazz looked up at him. "Really?" She smiled. "I'd like that a lot."

* * *

 **AHHHHHHHH**

 **I can't even remember the last time I updated this fic tbh and I'm so sorry for making y'all wait another couple months. I took so much time to write this chapter but on the plus side, chapter 10 is halfway finished. I wanted to post this chapter as soon as I finished it (its unholy hours i should be asleep rn) so there may be some errors somewhere because i had only skimmed through it when i proofread it. im probably gonna cringe when i read this authors note in the morning but yolo**

 **also I sincerely wanna thank everyone who left reviews on the last chapter so much, honestly reviews are the best thing a writer can get and its actually motivation for me to write no joke, I get an email notification for each review and it reminds me that I HAVE A FANFIC TO WRITE AND ITS MY DUTY and normally i would write out all the names of the people who left reviews but its 1:46am right now and my eyeballs sting too much for that but like if you commented something long ily so much you're highlight of my day:)**

 **AND there were some questions so ill answer them the best a sleep deprived person can answer (oh god im too tired for this) SORRY IF THEYRE SLOPPY I FEEL LIKE DEATH RN**

 **Darke13: Yes :)**

 **EmPro8: Yes, he's referring to Danny. 'Not from this dimension' as in, from the Ghost Dimension. (i mean i know hes half human but his powers are from the gz)**

 **Guest: yeah it's a fanon thing I guess lol**

 **Bug Queen: no, it was more like for the readers, that part is insignificant for now, because if Dipper did notice he would have questioned it. (bc dip questions everything lmao)**

 **AND YEAH THOSE ARE ALL THE QUESTIONS I THINK I CAN ANSWER**

 **To Flesh Ghost: I loved your review and it made me really happy and it gave me motivation to continue writing this story so thank you so much**

 **SO until next update (which dear god i hope will be soon)**

 **-dannyghost :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**hello friends, here's a present**

* * *

Chapter 10

Dipper rested his head defeatedly against the yellow armchair in the Shack's living room, and absentmindedly recorded the cracks and crevices of the cheap ceiling plaster. Today's events had been decidedly action-packed, yet still, there remained so many mysteries unsolved. In fact, he almost felt numb from everything that happened in the last few hours.

It wasn't even the end of the day yet and Dipper's thoughts were already spiralling out of proportion, but he couldn't help it. Something just didn't sit well with him. He didn't exactly know what, but he had a bad feeling about whatever was going to come.

 _What_ exactly was Bill implying earlier? No matter how much Dipper had thought about it now and before, his brain still came up with nothing. Not only the confusion Bill caused, but with the whole Danny situation… nothing still made sense.

Could these things possibly be related? Could any of the things that happened today be related? Was that why Danny was so suspicious to Dipper? And why had Bill shown up in the first place? Could it be because… no, that was a problem for a different brain-compartment in a separate thought-train going to who-knows-where-town.

Every possibility or question just made Dipper's brain hurt thinking about it. But on the other hand, if he didn't think about it, then not knowing made him stressed out enough to make his brain hurt all over again.

He groaned mournfully, and shifted his weight so that he was hanging upside down from the seat of the armchair, letting his hat fall off his head in the process. Not the ideal position, but it helped him think at times like this. _Now, what am I missing here?_ He thought frantically.

Dipper had finally resolved things with Danny, and he had been assured that the teen was just a totally normal guy, but his gut just didn't agree. And they had even become somewhat friends too, and were on friendly terms after they departed ways in the woods, but that didn't mean he fully trusted the guy just yet.

In fact, he had decided to not tell Danny about Bill at all after that encounter, but his lying needed serious work. Even _he_ could tell that Danny wasn't buying his 'you tripped over a rock and passed out' lie. But Dipper didn't seem like the only one that was lying.

Danny may be a slightly better liar than Dipper was, but he noticed _things._ And even without actual proof, and no matter how much Danny had assured Dipper of his 'human-ness', he just _felt_ like Danny was lying. There was just so many things that were off about him, but why didn't anyone else seem to notice?

Maybe it's...

"Am I paranoid?" Dipper asked aloud, to the response of dead silence. He stared blankly at the black screen of the television in front of him, slowly feeling the blood pressure rush to his head. He knew he was going to feel dizzy sooner or later from hanging upside for too long, but he almost felt in a trance muddled with his own inner thoughts and memories.

Like puzzle pieces fitting together. Like a revelation of obscene ideas that might not be so crazy. Slowly, things and words that Danny had said earlier in the day were starting to come together, forming some kind of correlation.

' **I bet we have to avoid the sascrotch too, right?'** Danny had asked, when they were in the woods earlier today. It had just been a simple offhand comment, and Dipper didn't think much of it more than just a joke.

But the more he really thought about it, the more it lacked any actual sense. _The sascrotch is part of the exhibits, which I don't recall him ever buying a ticket for._ Dipper furrowed his brows, trying to come up with possible reasons as to how he could know about it.

' **Comes with the experience, I guess.'**

 _What experience? He said his parents hunted ghosts, not him..._

' **Weirdest biology I've seen alive.'**

 _What? Did he see dead biology on the usual? Why did he say 'alive'?_

' **I'm good solo, so, just, shout if you need me!'**

 _How!? He was so nervous about everything when we were a group, and then he was just suddenly confident about being in the woods alone? That makes no sense!_

' **I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I don't** _ **look**_ **like a brain eating zombie.'**

Dipper's frustrated expression fell into a scowl. He recalled the terror in his eyes when Dipper first accused him of being inhuman. If Danny was human like he said he was, why would he be so terrified with Dipper questioning him about it? Wouldn't normal people just laugh it off and disregard it entirely? In fact, Danny hadn't just laughed it off, he changed the subject entirely! _How could I not have noticed that!?_ Dipper thought, mentally face palming.

His mind went to one of the things Danny had said after their argument had been resolved.

' **I kinda don't blame you for being so paranoid about all this.'**

 _What the heck did that mean? Did that mean he had a reason to be paranoid?_ Dipper thought, his stomach doing flips. Why would Danny imply that Dipper had a reason for being paranoid? Maybe that meant…

No. Maybe he was just reading too much into everything. Maybe he was just overanalyzing the most miniscule things. It's too early to have an existential crisis— he's only 12, for crying out loud! He was going to lose his mind if he kept thinking about this. And at this point, he was just going around in circles.

The memory of Bill's voice suddenly rang out in Dipper's thoughts, clear as a bell. ' **All I know is that it feels like it's not from this dimension. It's definitely** _ **weird**_ **.'**

 _Maybe he was onto something there…_

"WHAT'CHA UP TO?" Mabel interrupted, popping up from behind the sofa.

"AHH!" Dipper yelped as he came out of his trance, doing an ungraceful somersault off the seat of the sofa with his flailing arms abound. Tragically, this also resulted in him falling face first onto the ground beside his hat, limbs sprawled in different directions.

"Oh, you know, just trying to see if I can break all my bones in one sitting," he mumbled into the carpet, voice laced with pain.

"Neat! Good luck!" Mabel responded jokingly. She walked over to the front of the sofa, and held out a hand to help her brother up.

"I'm fine," Dipper ground out, looking at her outstretched hand. "Just…everything hurts," he complained, struggling to push himself back up. Once he managed to finally lift himself up, he grabbed his hat from the ground and placed it back on with a frown.

"If you broke your arm, I could bedazzle your cast with rainbow rhinestones and put stickers on it!" Mabel offered with a wink.

"Please don't," Dipper deadpanned, watching his sister's giggle with an incredulous expression. He didn't think she would actually take his sarcasm seriously, but this is _Mabel_ here. The same girl who would eat a bucket of glitter if she could.

"It doesn't have to be rhinestones! I can put only stickers on it if you want!" she continued, and at this point Dipper knew she was full on serious. Figures.

"Riiiiight," he drawled. "Um, I'm just gonna double check something in the journal," he added wryly, reaching into the pocket on the inside of his vest to snatch the tattered book.

Mabel turned to face her twin. "About why we didn't see the plaidypus?" she guessed, "Yeah I'm pretty miffed about that too. Anyways, I'm glad you've let the whole thing about Danny go. It's nice to see you guys actually became friends after you ended your whole conspiracy hunt on him," she teased jokingly, crossing her arms.

"Yeah…" Dipper agreed slowly, and laughed nervously, and turned around as he conspicuously opened the journal. _Just need to check. That's all,_ he told himself.

He passed through the pages about ghosts, looking for any sort of similarity or connection. _There's gotta be something, come on, come on…_ He frowned, and flipped back to the page about the undead. He was missing some information. The ghosts that he had met in the convenience store were unlike the ghosts described in the journals. Were the ghosts in Amity Park different too?

Dipper twitched. If he didn't figure this out soon, he was going to be lying awake at night until greater bouts of insomnia hit. He needed to dig deeper, he'd decided, closing the journal shut and placing it back in his vest pocket.

"Um, hey, you want anything from the store?" Dipper asked, scratching his arm casually.

"You're going out now? Isn't it kinda late?" Mabel frowned, swinging her legs back and forth as she sat on the sofa chair.

"Yeah, I just… have to clear my head a little. Danny and I had our own little run in with danger too." Dipper said, half smiling. _Well, it's not a total lie,_ he reminded himself.

He debated telling her that the 'run in with danger' was actually Bill. But although they told each other everything, he'd rather allow her to sleep well tonight instead of worry her about Bill's possible comeback. He'd tell her once he got more information.

"I'll be back really quick, I promise," Dipper insisted as he began to slowly walk backwards out of the living room and out the front door.

"Okay. But get me candy!" Mabel hollered back from inside the house.

Dipper smiled, relieved, as he ran to the Gravity Falls library. There was less than ten minutes left before the library closed, so he decided to do some fact checking on Danny's story. Just in case.

He ran across streets and roads in town until he felt the need to take a breather, panting his lungs out. "Aw, man this would be much faster if I took the golf cart," he wheezed out loud, resting his hands on his thighs. Checking his wristwatch, Dipper bit his lip reading that he had only eight minutes left until the library closed. In a stress-fueled panic, he sprinted the rest of the way there.

After nearly tripping over his own two feet stumbling through the doors of the library, Dipper managed to get his hands on one the of the aged computers behind the historical fiction section. The computer was not from this decade, and resembled a huge box, and probably had enough dust on the monitor to trigger an asthma attack, but it was his best bet at getting any information.

After wasting the first few minutes waiting for the dinosaur computer to boot up, he hurriedly clicked on the internet icon, opening a Google page. Typing in 'Amity Park' in the search bar, he hoped for anything substantial to pop up, and surely enough, everything that Danny had said about his hometown was true. Amity Park, Illinois, was a ghost town. Literally.

Danny hadn't been lying about that.

Turned out, Amity Park could rival Gravity Falls in weirdness. The town in question apparently suffered from ghost attacks daily, and everyone was aware of them. The people in Amity Park weren't oblivious to the ghosts, and there were countless articles on these attacks.

Weird enough, each of these ghosts had some sort of gimmick. There was some kind of metal hunter ghost, a fiery blue singing rock ghost, a technology ghost, some sort of genie ghost, a motorcycle duo, and a vampire ghost…? The list just got weirder the more he dug in, but these ghosts were among the most frequent that haunted the town.

But one name in particular stuck out, and seemed to be the most recurring and known ghost of all, that went by the name of… Inviso-bill? Dipper snorted at the ridiculous name. _What kind of a name was that?_ He thought, clicking on another article of the same ghost.

He discovered that said ghost was Amity Park's resident ghost-hero, an infamous one at that. He seemed to have as many fans as he did haters. Some people really hated this ghost, and some even swore to hunt him down and rid the world of 'ghost scum'. _Yikes,_ Dipper cringed.

Inviso-bill was reported to have saved the entire town from some huge ghost attack a couple of months ago, from some ghosts called ParIah Dark and Fright Knight, giving him better public perception and the favour of the people that lived in the town. After that incident, the rest of the articles referred to him as Phantom.

Further articles stated that Phantom was the one that defeated all the other ghosts that terrorized the town, and he locked them away in some device, rumored to be… FentonWorks technology?!

Dipper quickly typed in 'FentonWorks' into the search bar, reading that Danny also wasn't lying about his parents being crazy ghost hunters. They built inventions of all kinds, designed to mutilate and pulverize ghosts. No matter how hard it was to believe, so far everything that Danny was saying was turning out to be true.

No wonder Danny came off as so suspicious, he came from a town filled with ghost attacks and insane parents. But that still didn't explain why the infamous ghost Phantom had access to FentonWorks technology.

 _Maybe I can ask_ —

The librarian suddenly called out that it was closing time, and Dipper groaned in frustration.

 _Okay that's enough for one night. You've stressed out yourself enough, go home,_ he thought to himself, dismissing the possibility of his regrowing suspicion. He deleted his history and stood up, still winded from his journey here.

He sighed tiredly and turned to leave the computer area, defeatedly not even bothering to look directly in front of him. He made it three steps of the way before bumping into something— actually, someone. He bumped into them at full force, giving Dipper the impression that this person wasn't looking where they were going either.

"Oof! Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there," the voice from above said, taking a step back. The person was much taller than Dipper, and he had to look up just to see who exactly he just bumped into.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going and I just—uh…" Dipper began, trailing off as he made eye contact with the teenaged redhead in front of him. And it wasn't Wendy. He's never seen this girl around the library before, let alone in Gravity Falls. At this point, he and Mabel knew just about every local in town, and could spot a tourist right away. After all, they dealt with tourists all the time at the Mystery Shack. This girl wasn't from around here, he could tell. Why a tourist would go to the library was beyond him.

"Um, kid? Are you okay?" The girl asked with a small laugh, waving a hand in front of Dipper. "You spaced out… staring at me."

"Oh, uh, sorry, heh, I've guess I've just never seen you around town before, and I know every local here, so I was wondering why someone not from around here would be at the library this late," Dipper clarified hastily, trying not to come off too rash.

"Oh. Yeah, this is a small town, huh? And you're right, I'm not local, I'm actually just here with my parents and little brother for a few days. I'm not exactly a tourist, because we came here by accident, but yeah, I'm from pretty far away. Do you know Amity Park?" she inquired.

He swallowed, "Uhm, yeah! I've heard quite a bit about it," he responded, ironically basking in the fact that he'd just been researching the town minutes before. He was about to say something else, but then realized what exactly she had just said.

 _Not from here. Here with her parents and little brother. From Amity Park._

"Really? So you know how weird it is, right?" she laughed, not taking notice of Dipper's mental epiphany. "I'm Jazz, by the way," she added.

"Yeah, it's a pretty weird place," Dipper began casually, but then paused. He knew what he was going to say next, but instead pretended that the thought just occurred to him. "Wait, are you Danny's sister?" he wondered inconspicuously. He couldn't be wrong on this, he knew, but if he just stated it instead of asking, he'd definitely come off as creepy.

"Um… yes?" she answered warily. She seemed too tired to even have registered the question properly, but Dipper continued, testing his limits.

"What are you doing at the library? Can you even take out books here?"

"Well I didn't even bother checking, but I didn't get a good sleep the first night so I came here to tire myself out by investigating whether there are paranormal things going on in this town because my brother kept going on about—" Jazz looked at him with an off-put expression. "Hey wait— Who are you and how do you know my brother?"

"I was with him earlier, we went into the woods together?" Dipper offered.

"Huh!?" she asked, eyes widening in a mix of confusion and shock.

"I'm Dipper, a friend of Wendy's?" he tried again.

She gave him another confused look. "Who?"

"Girl from the Mystery Shack?"

"Oh! Yeah, that cashier he was talking to at the gift shop, yeah, he mentioned her. And you're friends with him too, now?" she asked. "He never told me that," she huffed to herself.

"He doesn't tell you much, does he?" Dipper sighed, as they walked together towards the exit doors of the library.

"Yeah, he keeps to himself, he usually only tells me what he wants me to know and I— wait, what's with the interrogation?" Jazz put her hands on her hips as Dipper signed out of the computers at the front desk. She signed out after him, and raised an eyebrow waiting for Dipper's explanation.

Dipper decided to take a chance on the new information. "Oh, nothing, I was just… looking up your city! Yeah, he was telling me about this ghost in your town— How people don't like him even though he's kind of a hero," he lied, secretly feeling proud of himself for coming up with that so quickly.

"Yeah, well… Even if you don't like ghosts you can't help but be proud of how far he's come." Jazz mused, a small smile on her face.

"But your parents are ghost hunters, doesn't that cause some kind of conflict?" Dipper asked without thinking. With Jazz giving him a look that said ' _how did you know?'_ , he quickly added, "I mean, Danny told me that your parents hunt ghosts, so, I was wondering…"

Jazz eyed him with an unreadable expression, shrugged, and stretched her arms above her head. Clearly exhausted. "Parents aren't always right, and what they don't know won't hurt them," she responded. "See you around, maybe," Jazz smiled, pushing the doors open to the library. With one last wave, she walked down the wooden steps of the small building and onto the dimly lit street, disappearing from sight.

Dipper stood there at the entrance of the library. Jazz seemed to know a little more than she would be able to let on. If his sister didn't seem concerned, then it was unlikely that Danny was a danger.

As he made his way to the general store to get Mabel the candy she asked for, he felt more relaxed than he had been these past few hours because he had finally gotten some answers. He didn't have much to worry about after all, but he knew better than to let his guard down.

Just in case.

* * *

 **SO**

 **thats an entire chapter of dipper being suspicious as hell**

 **fun fact here was the rough draft of this chapter that my sister wrote:**

Wait…. Danny IS a ghost… that sounds familiar…. Why does it sound familiar?

*Flashbacks*

"I'm not a ghost," said Danny.

*/end Flashback*

HE'S A GHOST

 **and yeahhhhh that clearly didn't happen but hey, getting closer. now to address some lovely reviews left on the last chapter: (in order of most recent)**

 **DannyPhantomPhandom:** eheheh don't worry, this fic isnt TOO angsty, and hinthinthint that wont make sense now lmao it wont be danny suffering eheheheh just wait my friend

 **dcgirl07:** Thank you so much! you made my day when I saw your review, lowkey ily :)

 **Guest:** _same_

 **Person:** you just wait, friend, theres soooo much more to come

 **coronadomontes:** the fact that you wrote half your review in spanish makes my latino heritage simmer with pride so thank you ily

 **TenableCape9819:** not yet, nope! :)

 **IronyIsMyName:** MUCH APPRECIATED THANK YOU

 **Guest:** lmao I could totally see that happening, and hehehheeh spoilers but YOU'LL SEE

 **Da Dude:** [ _my lovely sister (the one who does my rough drafts of this fic) volunteered to reply to your review.]_ Yo, Sis here. I'm responsible for the turd in the writing plot. peace sign You might be looking for S3 Danny, where he fights 'Monsters from another Dimension', but when a guy who's lived all his live accounting abnormalities to ghost-related incidents, it's understandable to be shocked when it turns out to be something entirely different, and opposed to ones cognitive framework. My dude is confident. He's a fighter. But he's also half human and he's a total dork. Maybe you should rewatch the series... because David Kaufman screamed into that mic quite a few times. Danny isn't always fearless all the time. No one is. For you to expect that of him, _That's_ unrealistic

 **lupsss1412:** I would say that this fic being DxS is up to your interpretation, seeing as Sam isn't in this story, but I'm going to go with cannon here and say that he lowkey likes her but they're not a thing yet. (This fic takes place right after Reality Trip ep, the s2 finale) and yeah! :)

 **anyways thank you all for reviewing, I love hearing your input, it makes me happy because I do read every review and see each time you follow or favourite this story and I can't say enough how happy it makes me seriously y'all are the best**

 **ALSO I now have a tumblr! It's called _ghostfall_ if you wanna stalk me, I co-run it with my sister and its lit af just sayin' and yeah thats all pretty much its 1:03am and I got school tomorrow rip so UNTIL NEXT UPDATE,**

 **-dannyghost :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**GUESS WHO'S BACK FROM THE GRAVE**

 **bet yall thought i abandoned this fic**

 **nope**

 **heres this**

* * *

Chapter 11

Later that night, Bill had discretely followed Danny back to the motel. He'd been waiting for the opportunity to get the tourist teen alone, and away from Dipper. If Bill couldn't find out where that fleeting energy was coming from, he would place his bets on Dipper being on the verge of discovering its origins. According to the kid, this teenager was "just some tourist", he couldn't possibly know enough to tell the difference in personality if he possessed his body. A friendly tourist was a perfect disguise to keep tabs on the nosey kid.

 _At least the human's good for something,_ Bill thought, before discretely entering the premises of the motel to spy on his newest target. Maybe he'll be even more fun to annoy than Dipper.

 _He'll be the perfect meat suit._

* * *

Danny collapsed into bed face first, exhausted. This was only the second night here, and he had already felt like he'd been here a week without sleep. He was confused, tired, and mentally drained— and it wasn't even past 10 o'clock yet. Jazz was probably on her way back from the library now, judging by how long she usually spent there. Hours, reading up on any book that had anything to do with psychology.

No doubt, he knew he'd be asleep by the time she returned. And although Danny had a history of random spouts of insomnia and nightmares, he wasn't even going to try pulling an all-nighter this time. This was supposed to be a vacation after all; the least he could do was try to get some rest.

The only thing keeping him relaxed was the fact that he knew Sam and Tucker had it covered back home if any ghostly trouble occurred, and that they were well equipped with Fenton gear. That alone made it slightly easier for Danny to rest easy tonight, plus the fact that he was already tired as a whole from the day's events.

If he could just rest for at least six hours tonight, at least, that was all he needed. This was a vacation, after all. He needed to get away from the stress. And for once, at least, there were no other ghosts around. He didn't need to spend these nights fighting ghosts until dawn. He could just sleep now…

Danny shut his eyes tightly in hopes that it would somehow make him fall asleep faster. Backfire. He tossed and turned. Too uncomfortable. His pulled up the covers. Too hot. He yelled into his pillow.

This went on for another ten minutes, before he was about ready to give up on his precious sleep. It was almost like his body refused to let him sleep. He just wanted rest. Was that too much to ask for?

He closed his eyes, deciding to try to sleep again one last time.

He was nearly half asleep before his phone pinged with a message notification, lighting up the corner of the room. Danny muffled his face with his pillow and groaned in annoyance, silently cursing whatever notification on his phone that decided to disturb his sleeping efforts.

He lazily reached an arm out for his phone on the night stand next to his bed, feeling around a lamp and notepad on the table before grabbing his phone.

"Gah, my eyes. It burns," he whined, flipping open his phone as the blinding light of the screen light up amongst the darkness. He instantly regretted having put his phone brightness on the highest setting earlier that day, and hastily turned it down to the lowest setting. He squinted at the screen, making out the words 'New message from Tucker'.

Danny smiled, his annoyance dissipating. Even though it was way past midnight by now in Amity Park, Tucker was still awake, as usual. He knew his best friend well enough to know that he most likely was up all night playing the newest edition of _Doomed_ again, and when Tucker marathoned video games, he played until dawn hit.

Opening the text, Danny skimmed through its contents, reading through what Tucker had sent him. ' _Hey man. Just thought I'd let u know that Sam and I caught the box ghost while u were gone. 2x. Ur welcome. How's California?'_

Danny chuckled, before responding back with a message of his own. ' _Thanks Tuck. And about that… my dad made a wrong turn. We ended up in some town in Oregon called Gravity Falls instead. It's on another level of weird',_ he texted back.

The good thing about talking to Tucker over text was that he always responded back almost immediately, at any hour in the day. He was the quickest texter he's ever seen, in fact. The bad thing, well, was that Danny could be sleeping. But instead he was awake. Texting.

He almost felt like he was being watched, too, strangely enough. On the contrary, at least while staying awake, he could somehow keep his guard up.

His phone flashed again with a new message. ' _Gravity Falls?'_ Tucker had written, and then in another text below, said: ' _Never heard of it. U mean like… Amity Park weird?'_

Danny paused for a moment, thinking of how to respond. The town that he had ended up in was weird for sure, and he's seen things with his own eyes to prove it. So far, it didn't seem exactly as dangerous as Amity Park, to the extent that it was plagued with malicious ghosts bent on world destruction, but hey. This was his second night here. Who knows, maybe they have demons too, he thought with a laugh, before beginning to type a response.

' _Yeah...something like that. I've met a few people here and they're nice, but the town, man, it just seems off somehow idk',_ he wrote, and pressed send.

Tucker wrote back. ' _what do u mean?'_

Danny made a face. ' _Just a feeling'_ , he typed slowly, once again beginning to feel like he was being watched. He wasn't picking up any ghost sense either, so he knew that it wasn't just some ghost that had followed him out of Amity. And with the new knowledge that there existed other _things_ in this town that _weren't_ ghosts, didn't help ease his worry.

For all he knew, there could be some kind of faceless bogeyman trying to watch him sleep from the closed window and he'd have no idea. Talk about uncomfortable.

His phone pinged again with a new message. ' _w/e u say dude',_ Tucker had written.

Danny cringed at his best friend's usage of text talk. He knew it was the fastest way to talk when messaging back and forth, but it still hurt to read. His phone suddenly pinged again without warning. ' _Still, let me know what else happens. me & sam miss u already, buddy'._

His cringe began to form into a small smile. He missed them too. He knew Sam wasn't too big on cellphones, especially being on them at this hour at night, otherwise he would have sent her a text by now. But he was sure glad Tucker could carry on a message.

Squinting against his phone screen, he began to type his reply. ' _Will do. I miss you guys too',_ he had sent, before he found himself drifting off to sleep for real this time, phone lazily resting in the palm of his hand.

For what felt like only minutes, but in actuality was hours into Danny's dream, he slowly gained consciousness in his sleep. He briefly began to wonder if he was lucid dreaming, but then remembered that he rarely ever does lucid dream. Why would now be any different?

And why was he suddenly so conscious all the sudden?

This didn't even feel like a dream anymore. And Danny was well aware that he had just been dream-fighting ghosts not too long ago. Something noticeably felt different. Off.

But… he was dreaming. He knew that this wasn't real. The state of his surroundings were now warped, and frankly, confusing.

Blinking several times, he realized that he was now floating in pitch black nothingness, until he saw a single source of light appearing far off into the distance. It blinked once… twice. As the light became solid and brighter, it paused and suddenly dimmed. Danny furrowed his brows in confusion, and leaned forward, floating on his stomach, facing towards the dimly glowing light.

"What the…" he muttered to himself, inching towards the strange light. "Where… am I?"

In a quasar-like burst, the light forced itself into all directions, illuminating the nothingness in a wave of blues and greens. The force of the burst pushed Danny back a bit, but when he opened his eyes once more he found that the vast nothingness had been filled with brilliant stars and colourful distant galaxies.

 _Space,_ Danny thought slowly. _Wait, I'm in space!? No… aren't I dreaming?_ he questioned, his mind racing rapidly. Now that he could see clearer, he was in his normal day clothes, for some reason, cancelling the fact that he had put on pajamas prior.

" **Heya kid!"** A loud, shrill voice cut through the air, leaving a lasting echo as it spoke. " **Welcome to the mindscape! What's with the face?"**

Danny recoiled in surprise, doing a double take, looking for the source of the voice. "Who…" he began, with a frown, "Wait, wh-what's wrong with my face?!" he asked in alarm.

The voice let out a monosyllabic chuckle in response. " **Nothing!"** it laughed, before deadpanning: " **Unless you want it** _ **removed."**_

Danny blinked, struggling to find a proper response to the casual threat. And he thought _he_ was bad at first impressions. He was no stranger to unnatural occurrences, and with this voice claiming their whereabouts to be in some "mindscape", he at least knew he wasn't dreaming. He probably wasn't actually sleeping either, he thought with narrowed eyes.

" **Sheesh, tough crowd!"** The voice asked, upon noticing Danny's unimpressed face. " **Where's your sense of humour?"**

"Hey, I have plenty sense of humour!" Danny defended, crossing his arms.

" **I think I have doubts about that, kid! Here, maybe this will brighten your mood** — **have a flashlight eyeball!"** the voice offered, bringing into existence a larger than normal, bloodshot eyeball in front of Danny. The pupil then suddenly expanded, overtaking the red iris and began to glow a ghastly yellow.

"Wait, what?" Danny asked, baffled.

He didn't have enough time to react before the eyeball looked straight in his direction and sent a beam of bright light at his face, making him feel a sudden dizziness. He went to cover his eyes with his hands, then settled on shooing away the eyeball.

"Why would a light flashing in my eyes brighten my mood?" Danny challenged, with one arm covering his eyes.

" **Not a fan?"** The voice asked, poofing away the existence of the eyeball. " **To each their own! Say, if you could have anything in the world, what would you want?"** it asked mischievously.

"Uh, I don't know. A good night's sleep?" Danny shrugged jokingly with a small laugh. He couldn't decide whether to give this mystery voice the benefit of the doubt on not being some sort of evil dream ghost or not, because all he had to go on was that this whole scenario was just… weird.

The voice let out a short laugh. " _ **Well,"**_ it began, " **What if I told you there was a way that I could make that happen?"**

"Okay… but why?"

" **Oh, trust me kid, it's the least I can do! I can tell that you don't really sleep at night too** — **just look at those eyebags of yours!"** The voice laughed maniacally.

Danny frowned, touching the spaces under his eyes defensively. "And how exactly is making fun of my eyebags helping, in any way?" he asked, through narrowed eyes.

The voice laughed again. It had a strange, echoing laugh that made Danny feel uneasy. " **Oh relax, I'm just joking,"** it began to backtrack. " **Now. About that** _ **deal.**_ **What do ya say?"**

Without warning, the previously lit scenery filled with galaxies and stars vanished before him, leaving him surrounded by black nothingness once again. The atmosphere felt different, blank. It made Danny feel like he was getting himself into something that he shouldn't be doing. But he was also so tired, that he couldn't think straight. The insomnia was catching up to him again. Wasn't this a dream anyway?

Danny shook his head, trying to grasp reality. "Wait, what? ...Deal...?" he trailed off confusedly. "What do you—"

" **It's a deal, then!"** The voice interrupted, then suddenly a single arm materialized into thin air, reaching out towards the teen. Before Danny could even think to utter a response, the hand then lit up in blue fire and grabbed his own, shaking it once.

"What?! No, I didn't mean to…" Danny began, "Who— _what_ are you?!" he yelled rampantly, as he gaped openly at his own hand interlocked with the severed demonic limb.

Time seemed to slow as a body began to slowly form attaching itself to the lone arm. Yellow coloured bricks then formed one by one, sculpting the shape of a triangle in seconds. Black, thin, limbs grew from the base of the pyramid, and with its free hand, snapped its fingers and a bowtie and top hat materialized onto the figure. One single eye opened slowly, and leered down at the teen before letting out a menacing, echoing laugh.

Danny could only stare in horror at the triangle shaped creature that held an iron grip on his hand. He tried to pull away, but the more he struggled, the tighter the creature's grip became. He couldn't escape its grasp, even with using his super strength. Not even summoning an ecto blast from his hand worked. It was almost like this… place… was blocking his powers. He couldn't go ghost. He was powerless against this—

He swallowed, realizing something. _This wasn't a ghost. Just what exactly is this thing?_ Danny thought, looking up to meet the eye of the triangle shaped monster. "You— you tricked me!" he spluttered.

A blue-lit fire sparked between their hands, and Danny felt a pull. Before he could even register what was happening, he was being ejected from his own body. Pulled, violently, all at once, and he suddenly felt no weight at all. It felt a little like going through his parents' Fenton Ghost Catcher. But worse.

Danny looked down at his hands with a panic. Human, but translucent. In fact, his whole body was translucent, and entirely intangible. Looking down, he found that the lower half of his body faded into nothingness. It wasn't anything new, but this wasn't his doing. He couldn't switch back to tangible. Taking a shaky breath, Danny clenched his fists together. "What did you do to me?" he demanded, but stopped short when he looked at the sight in front of him.

It was... _him._ It had his body, his face, his— everything. And it was smiling at him. With freakish, yellow slits in his pupils.

Danny grit his teeth in anger. "You took my body?!"

The creature now possessing his body smiled an unnatural, unnerving grin too large for comfort. " **Sure I did, but that's your problem now! Boy, this body sure is great! Much stronger than the last fleshbag I used! Do you work out?"** it teased.

"I didn't ask for this!" Danny yelled, ignoring the weird comments. "I want my body back!"

" **Oh, don't worry, you'll be a great meat suit! This way, I can finally get some answers out of Pine Tree** — **he doesn't like me very much, but seeing as he's warming up to you, this'll be a piece of cake! That kid knows more than you think, you know!"** it admitted, waving a finger around in the air.

 _Pine tree…?_ Danny wondered. _Dipper!_

He glared at his double with anger. "Listen, _freak._ I don't know what kind of wacked up things you're planning to do with my body, or what you're trying to get out of Dipper, but it's not going to work. And I'm going to find a way out of this, and when I do, I'm coming for you."

The doppelgänger let out a loud, annoying laugh, as if Danny had just told the most hilarious joke ever. The fact that it hasn't stopped smiling either was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable. Well, more uncomfortable than he already was.

" **Oh, you keep believing that!"** It said happily, flashing another sinister grin, before changing its tone. " **Kid, you don't know who you're messing with here. I'm much more** **dangerous** **than you think,"** it warned, deepening its voice as its eyes flashed red.

Danny huffed with anger. _If I had my body, I would be too._

" **By the way, the name's Bill! Bill Cipher!"** it called, and then snapped its fingers.

That was the last thing Danny heard before a black hole swirled open in front of him and swallowed him whole, sending him into another world of darkness. His vision faded to black.

* * *

Danny felt a sudden jerked movement, as though he was being pushed forward, but only after a moment of complete sensory deprivation his sight began to slowly return, and he recognised that he was awake. Looking at his hands, he noticed they were translucent. As he focused his attention through them, he saw his still body lying under the thin covers of the motel bed.

 _What? Is this a dream? Or maybe some kind of reaaaally late side effect of dying?_

He looked down at his non-corporeal self, confusedly, and then pulled down his bangs in front of his face. _Black. I'm… me._

His eyes widened in fear as he tried to piece together his current situation. After a brief moment of feeling like a deer in headlights, he looked to his sister, who appeared as a large lump under the covers of her bed.

"Jazz? Are you up?" He whispered at Jazz's bedside. As he reached to nudge her awake, his hand slid right through the covers and through her shoulder. He retracted his hand in shock.

Normally, Danny made a full effort to keep his feet on the ground when he didn't need to fly, even when he was Phantom— but standing here, looking like himself, and not being able to touch the floor was unnerving. He stared at his translucent hands and as his dreams came flooding back into his memory, his jaw slacked in realization.

 _That… really happened?_

"I'm a full on ghost… am I dead, for real?" Danny floated wide eyed. He knew that full ghosts didn't have any abilities in this plane of existence unless they were truly powerful or had some kind of connection to ground them to the real world. His body was his one connection to both planes of their universe— and now there was someone—no, some _thing_ else living inside it.

Bill Cipher.

Danny looked out the window towards the almost full moon, its light more luminous than his seemingly permanent ghostly aura. "Am I stuck like this?" he wondered in horror.

Behind his back, the corners of his body's mouth upturned ever slightly.

* * *

 **so**

 **I believe I owe you guys the biggest apology for the BIGGEST hiatus ever**

 **I could give yall a billion excuses but its not gonna cut it, I know. (but to be fair, I moved countries and had no wifi for a LONG time and my laptop was dead for over a month because I didn't own a north american charger and only had the europe plug and yeahh, excuses amiright) I also know the pain of waiting years for a fic to be uploaded, and its painful. and I'm sorry.**

 **But in all seriousness thank you guys for sticking with me through this long as heck hiatus, and I love and appreciate all your reviews and comments. I read every single of them, and seriously they really do motivate me. you guys are the best.**

 **also did you guys notice that my author's notes literally turned to shitposts? i did lmao**

 **ALSO (part2) there are accompanying doodles for this chapter drawn by my lovely sister, check them out on my tumblr! it's ghostfall**

 **and THATS ALL**

 **until next time, dannyghost :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm not dead, but Danny is**

 **ENJOY**

* * *

Chapter 12

At around just past midnight, Dipper found himself lying in bed in the dark, staring at the ceiling with a frown. He assumed the position of sleeping, but in reality, sleep was the last thing on his mind. Maybe it was the impending full moon. Maybe it was the pre-pubescent hormones. In any case, he knew it was a jerk move to take it out on Danny Fenton.

He had spent the last few hours lying in bed awake after he got back home from the library. Thinking too hard about the events of the day gave him a headache, leaving him confused with the feeling that he was missing important details and leaving his brain going around in maddening circles.

Even the 'evidence' that supported his theory amounted to nothing but speculation. It didn't mean anything. Getting involved could be dangerous for Dipper. If he found out something he wasn't supposed to know, he could put his friends lives in danger too. But what if he really was wrong about everything? He did have a habit of jumping to conclusions… but then again, when was anything just a coincidence in Gravity Falls anyway?

He stared up towards the ceiling, imagining how Danny would react if Dipper found out something about him that he wasn't supposed to know. Would he be angry? Would he _kill_ him? _How_ would he kill him…?

Dipper felt a chill go through his body and shivered. "Okay, now I'm just exaggerating," he said aloud. Even he knew that Danny wouldn't go to lengths to kill him, no matter how shady he seemed. He was just getting himself worked up over nothing.

He looked over to Mabel's side of the room, to find her soundly asleep and lightly snoring, clutching a teddy bear. She didn't have raging insomnia like he did. Shifting back to his previous position of staring at the ceiling, Dipper swallowed. He felt like there was a weight on his shoulders, and the more he tried to ignore it, the heavier it became.

After all the things he's seen here this summer, he's been finding it harder to sleep each night. And now that he knew that Bill was back and out on the loose, with some new goal, he was finding it hard to sleep with even one eye open. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but the truth was, he was _scared._

"He can't get to me in the mindscape if I don't sleep," Dipper reassured himself, with a nod. Without moving his head, he strained his eyes to look at his wristwatch. _2:38 AM._

 _Not again,_ Dipper thought with a groan. Normal kids his age didn't stay up past two creating conspiracy theories. They didn't stay awake for the sole purpose of avoiding possession from a demon. They didn't have to worry about these sort of things on the daily. He obviously wasn't normal.

 _2:51 AM._

There was so much more to think about, like whatever Bill was searching for— the new presence. Bill seemed to be pretty adamant about finding out whatever it was, and for some reason, he had the idea that Dipper knew what it was. Was he _supposed_ to know?

Dipper was missing something. It was becoming infuriating.

He resolved to going over the things that he already knew, in his head. He could practically feel his eyebags worsening.

 _Okay. So there's a new presence,_ Dipper thought. _Powerful. Bill wants ahold of it. Bill thinks I know something… Danny is hiding something?_

...

Dipper sat up in bed quickly, eyes widening with realization. _Oh no. It's been staring at me in the face this entire time._ _Danny_ _is the new presence._

 _Bill is after Danny._

Before he could get his thoughts completely together, Dipper tore the covers off himself and quickly slipped on his shoes and vest, hastily grabbing the journal from under his pillow and ran out of the room, almost falling down the stairs in the process.

Arms flailing as he tried to desperately flip through the pages of the journal, Dipper made his way outside the Shack, as quickly as possibly, tripping over his own feet and sprinting towards the Gravity Falls motel.

* * *

Danny was caught off guard about many things today, besides the fact that he was currently not in his own body, and subsequently, watching the dream demon that was possessing his body as it slept. In his body.

At this point, he had learned that he could expect anything and still be surprised. Needless to say, this held true as he saw Dipper walking towards his motel room window, journal in hand, at nearly three in the morning. He looked out of breath, like he had ran here, with eyebags that screamed _no sleep_ , and was muttering incoherently to himself. To put it simply, he looked like a nervous wreck.

"Dipper?" Danny called, with a confused frown etched onto his face. "Dipper? Hello?!" he yelled, waving his arms around in the air like a lunatic. "Why can't he hear me? Is he ignoring me? I'm a ghost but… I'm always a ghost. This shouldn't be a problem!" he complained.

He sighed.

"Yep. You can't hear or see me. That's just, yeah, no, that's just great," he huffed in defeat. It was almost like retaining his invisibility and intangibility, except that he was in his human form, and he couldn't go back to normal. This was infuriating.

There had to be _some_ sort of way he could communicate with him. He didn't want to end up talking to himself forever. He wanted his body back.

"What the heck is he doing?" Danny floated up next to Dipper, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at. "Is he looking at me? —er… my body?"

To Danny's confusion, Dipper slid down the wall to crouch just beneath the window of the room, and flipped through the pages of the journal, before settling on a specific page.

"In order to see…" he mumbled under his breath, reading something intently. Whatever it was, he was whispering the words he was reading, almost as if he was practicing them. He stood up and looked through the window and glanced nervously at Danny's body lying in bed, then went back to his journal. He looked around conspicuously, probably to see if anyone was watching him. (Danny was, in fact, watching him. Dipper didn't know that, though.)

"Jeez, what are you reading?" Danny asked, leaning over Dipper's shoulder to get a glimpse of the journal page he was reading.

Danny raised a brow upon looking at the handwritten writing on the page. "In order to see who was possessed recently, one must simply recite this incantation… is that Latin? Wow, you're really going all out with this, aren't you?" he joked to himself.

Dipper suddenly stood up from his position against the wall, walking straight through Danny. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he whispered to himself. "Let's just hope this works… _Videntis Omnium, Magister Mentium, Magnesium Ad hominem, Magnus Opus, Habeus Corpus, Inseptus Nolanus Overratus... Magister Mentium, Magister Mentium… Magister Mentium!_ " he chanted.

He seemed to wait for a few seconds after reciting the incantation, maybe hoping that maybe there was just a delay of time before the spell would take effect. He looked around the room for some sort of sign, but nothing happened.

The boy stirred in his bed, and Dipper ducked down quickly, for fear of being caught. He was breathing so shakily you would have thought that he hadn't just been reciting an exorcism in Latin. Slowly peeking at the window again, he watched the body for any sort of sign. Nothing.

Danny widened his eyes in realization. How had he not thought of it earlier? _Dipper was trying to save me from Bill,_ he thought.

"I don't get it! It was supposed to work…" Dipper muttered dejectedly, before huffing angrily. "Ugh, this is stupid! The window is closed, he probably wasn't affected— Maybe Bill hasn't even gotten to him yet. Danny's probably fine and I'm just being paranoid again. Mabel was right," he said, closing the journal shut.

"Uhhhh _no_ I am _definitely_ not fine, Dipper!" Danny exclaimed, waving his arms around in front of an oblivious Dipper's face. "Bill has most definitely _gotten to me_ and he very much _stole my body!"_

Dipper walked through Danny again, beginning to make his way back to the Mystery Shack.

Danny considered following him there, and looked back towards his body one last time, sleeping soundly under the covers, when the marking of a golden eye flashed once on his forehead before disappearing without a trace.

Dipper's incantation did work, after all. If only he had stayed a bit longer, he would know that Bill already took possession of Danny's body. And although Danny had no idea how Dipper even came to the right conclusion that Bill was after him, he knew that the preteen was onto something, and that he'd know how to fix this.

With that in mind, Danny figured out what he had to do.

Get Dipper's attention.

* * *

He was definitely taking a chance on Dipper, but this was his only option. As Dipper quietly re-entered the Shack, Danny had followed closely behind him, tired of calling uselessly his name over and over throughout his walk home.

In a last ditch attempt to exercise his ghostly fury, Danny jumped in from of Dipper's path, arms up and 'claws' out as though to scare him. "BOO!" he cried.

Dipper sported no reaction and walked right through him, for the umpteenth time.

Danny's shoulders sagged with mild irritation. "Yeah, I doubted that would work anyway."

He paused in thought and then began to smirk at his sudden idea. "Let's try a light show then," Danny brought his hands closely together and focused on trying to create an ecto ball. What used to be a simple task now seemed impossible to him. Danny grunted in frustration. He would have stomped his foot, if he had one.

"This is ridiculous," he yelled. "It's like I'm not even half ghost anymore." With near hopelessness, Danny looked down at his spectral tail scowling at his inability to control its fragile movements. _It's like I need to learn how to control everything all over again._

Clenching his other fist, he reached towards Dipper's shoulder, focusing on tangibility. His hand passed cleanly through Dipper.

Dipper shivered slightly, and exhaled through pursed lips. As he rubbed away the goosebumps forming on his arms, he skipped up the stairs and headed back to bed.

Danny remained at the foot of the stairs watching Dipper's shadow disappear into the darkness of the upstairs hallway. No matter what Danny did, he couldn't see or hear him, let alone be aware of his presence. It was hopeless.

 _Time to give up._

* * *

 **fun fact did you know that Inseptus Nolanus Overratus loosely translates to Inception by Christopher Nolan was overrated? (yep, gotta love Journal 3)**

 **ANYWAY**

 **I legit rewrote this chapter a bunch of times over the course of two months until I was finally satisfied with it, and a voila. You should probably start preparing for 'Banny' aka Bipper pt.2, COMING SOON TO A CHAPTER 13 NEAR YOU.**

 **On the real though, I do love reading all of your reviews, seriously, I get an email for every review you guys make and it brightens up my day a whole lot. Also, some of you guys have guessed that the mirror has later significance, and Y'ALL ARE RIGHT just saying**

 **so, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and you have have any concerns or constructive criticism, please don't be afraid to comment!**

 **until next time,**

 **-dannyghost:)**


	13. Not an Update

YES, I'M ALIVE

I'M SORRY FOR GETTING YOUR HOPES UP BUT THIS ISN'T AN UPDATE HNNGHHGHNG

SO I'm **VERY** aware with the fact that I haven't updated this story since literally NOVEMBER 2017.

And no, I'm **not ** giving up on this story because it's still planned out to the end and my goal is NOT to #wasteyourtime2k18

It started with a writer's block, then transcended into pure laziness, and then I literally forgot this story existed.

I spend more time reading fanfiction for other fandoms that I do writing my own, and it's sad, because I really do love writing.

AND SO **YES, I will continue this story.** I started writing this fanfiction in the 11th grade, and I plan to finish it this year when I graduate. I have about 105 pages written in my Google Doc so far, and I don't plan to stop there. I haven't lost inspiration, but it's more-so the fact that _I forgot what the fuck I even wrote two years ago._

SO I'm going to start reading this story from the beginning so I can remember, and continue writing it. It's been two years since I first posted Half a Mind, and that was around the last time I read the beginning of it.

I believe that my writing has significantly improved since starting this story, and I do want to pursue a career in writing in my future. And for me, fanfiction is a good way to start.

 **TLDR; I WILL CONTINUE WRITING THIS STORY, AND VERY SOON, EXPECT AN UPDATE.**

to prove it, here's a snippet of Chapter 13 below.

* * *

Chapter 13

Danny returned to the motel that night, feeling more stressed than he had ever been in months. It was nearly dawn, and he hadn't managed to get a wink of sleep at all since the day before. Usually, this was normal, but every other time this occurred, he had a bed to lie in at night. Now, he didn't even have control of his own _body._

 _What a vacation this was turning out to be,_ he thought bitterly.

Jazz could possibly be in danger with Bill possessing his body, so he had no time to spare wasting it on Dipper, when he could be trying to get Jazz's attention and keep a close watch on her instead. She was oblivious to the fact that her own brother was being possessed by a demon, and if she did find anything suspicious, she'd no doubt come to the conclusion that he was being possessed by a ghost.

Besides, Dipper wouldn't be looking for signs of demonic possession anymore since he now had the apparent idea that Bill hasn't done anything to him. The kid obviously knew much more than what he led on, so Danny did have to give him credit— he was much smarter than Danny was when he was twelve.


End file.
